Harry Potter and Russo Trouble
by 7701DeathlyHalfBloodPrincess
Summary: REWRITE Alex and her brothers head to Hogwarts to increase their standing in the Wizard Competition, But, within the castle walls, everything is not as it seems. Alex encounters problems from the Wizarding Worlds where lives are put at risks and both people and bonds are put to the test. Can Alex survive her years at Hogwarts and become closer to being the Family Wizard?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This chapter has been edited. Wizards of Waverly Place belongs to Disney and Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.**

 **Alex's POV**

Let's be clear on one thing. Going to some wizarding school was totally not my idea. So, anything that happens here is undoubtedly Dad's fault. I mean, maybe that prank did go awry and blow up in everyone's faces, but Dad's the one choosing the punishments here. So, yeah. That Friday did not start off great for me.

"But Dad!" I whined from my spot on the couch in our lair. "I don't want to go to some wizarding school!" I groaned as my form further slumped into the couch.

"Alex, I have no choice but to send you to Hogwarts. You almost exposed magic to mortals, and it's obvious that Wiztech has absolutely no effect on you." Dad argued. I rolled my eyes. Honestly, if there is one thing that the Russo family should be used to, are my screw ups.

…

Did I hear the name of the school correctly?

"Hogwarts!" I shout. "You're sending me to a school called _Hogwarts_! Dad, that name's even more stupid than Wiztech!" I groaned again.

"See, Dad?" Justin said, exasperated. Justin was my geeky older brother, by the way. "She doesn't even want to go to the best wizarding school in the entire world!'

Ugh. The _best_ school? Didn't that usually mean high expectations, stuffy teachers, stuck-up, know-it-all students, and actually doing work? Ugh. For people who were saved by me a week before, they weren't showing a whole lot of appreciation.

"Yeah, Dad," I said sweet as I straightened myself on the couch. "Justin should go to Hogwarts. I mean, look at him, he's totally willing to."

"Yeah, Da- wait," Justin stopped, and he swivelled around to face me. "You're just doing this to escape your punishment." He accused. Oh, great. Can't the boy make up his mind? Does he, or does he not want to go to this oh-so-amazing school?

"It's okay, Justin. I wasn't planning to let her skip anyways." Well, isn't that just great? A plan somewhat formulated in my head, and I hoped to God that it worked.

"Wait." Max chimed in. "Is Alex going to a school named after a pig with warts, or are we _getting_ a pig with warts?" he asked with squinted eyes, as he scratched the back of his head.

"No, Max. Alex is going to a wizarding school." Dad explained. I watched as Dad continued to explain the situation to Max. Ah, God bless Max. Without him, those two would never have been distracted enough. I smirked.

Grabbing my wand from my boot, I waved a spell, " _Rain on, chain on._ " At the end of my enchantment, a flash of white came and went. After the light had dissipated, Dad, Max, and Justin, all laid on the ground bound in bronze chains tightly. Satisfied with myself, I skipped out the lair with pride. At this point, I think I needed the comfort of my werewolf boyfriend.

"Mason!" I wandered the streets as I yelled his name. A few passers-by's looked at me really weirdly, but as long as they weren't Mason in disguise, I didn't care. Anyways, where was that werewolf? It was in the middle of the afternoon, so he shouldn't have wolfed up already. I went to visit his house, but to my demise, the only thing that was there was his baby brother, who proceeded to chase me out of the house. He wasn't at his favourite places either!

After a few more rounds around the city, I sighed in frustration and stood angrily in the middle of a random street.

"Ugh!" I exclaimed frustrated, stomping my foot on the concrete. At my shout, more than a few onlookers spared me a glance. Well, excuse me for having the worst time of my life. I mean, here I am about to go to a place where I really had no business going to, and my boyfriend isn't here for me to complain to. My frustrations are justified. I sighed and just went back to the Sub Station. Maybe Harper would be there.

I was wrong. When I entered the sparsely populated Sub Station, the only thing that greeted me were a few costumers and the male trio from my family. Oh, great. I had really hoped that they would be wound up for a few more hours, but it was already a bad day. What did I honestly expect?

Anyways, as I made my way to the counter, I noticed that Justin's smile was way too wide for my liking, and Max's excited tapping didn't help my case. What was going on?

"Hey, Alex, we need to talk." Dad greeted. He patted the counter top and gestured to the stools. "Sit down." Oh, no. Didn't we already have a talk earlier?

I sat down cautiously, and threw an irritated glare at Max. Honestly, this boy just goes tap, tap, tap all over the place. "What are you two dorks so happy about?" I asked.

If possible, Justin's smile got wider. "Well, Alex. Max and I, are going to Hogwarts with you!" he exclaimed gleefully. My eyes widened in horror and my jaw dropped. I turned to Max and Dad for confirmation. Both of them nodded.

"No!" I exclaimed, and put my head into my hands. It was bad enough that I had to go to some first class school or whatever, but to have Justin and Max there with me? They would never leave me alone! How would I survive?

Obviously seeing me in despair churned some sympathy in my Dad because the next thing he said totally brightened up my day. "You know, Alex. Professor Crumbs said if you, uh, graduate from Hogwarts, it could, um, help you in your standing for the Wizarding competition."

I looked up, totally paying attention now. Was he serious? Could I seriously increase my chances of winning this competition by just going to school? I looked at Dad to see if he was kidding. I saw that he was looking at me to see if I would take it. Oh my God. He was honest to God serious. For the first time that day, I smiled.

"Well then, Dad. I think we need to go buy supplies for school, right?" I said, standing up and clapping my hands together. Was I excited to go to this Hogwarts? No. Was I totally willing to put up with it so I can be the family wizard? Heck yes.

Dad sighed in relief, and rubbed his hands together. "Alright guys. Let's close up for today and go buy your stuff." He said. And with that, we made all preparations and stood in front of the window portal. Dad opened it and let us through. I hoped that I wouldn't regret this decision.

The further we travelled, the less I recognized where we were going. Why didn't we just go to our regular shop and get everything done and over with?

"Hey, Dad?" I called out.

"Yes, Alex?"

"Where are we going?"

"We're going to Diagon Alley." He replied. I stared at my Dad's back, bewildered. Dia-what alley?

"It's where we're going to buy your school supplies." Dad explained further.

"But couldn't we just go to our regular shop?" Max asked, voicing my thoughts from a few minutes ago.

"No, Max." Justin said. "Hogwarts has a list of supplies that can only be bought at Diagon Alley."

"Justin's right, Max." Dad replied.

"Well, that stinks." Max huffed, crossing his arms against his chest. Wow, Dad was honest to God, willing to spend money for special supplies. Hogwarts must be real special for that to happen.

As we walked, the fog that usually signified the portal diminished a bit, which gave us a blurry view of our path. That was cool. Unfortunately, the walk was really, really, long. I had better lose a pound or two from this. My legs ached, and this was the farthest I had ever walked my entire life.

Fortunately, my saviour came in the form of a rundown building, that a lot of people seemed to pass by. It looked like one of those rutty bars you would expect a lot of drunks to come in after the sun had gone down. So, of course, that's where we were headed.

As a wizard myself, you would expect me to not trust appearances. Yeah, well, that was never my thing. So, in this one instance, I was pleasantly surprised. It really did look like a bar, granted a bit more sanitary, but that's beside the point. People were seated on stools by the counter, and some climbed up the winding staircase to the second floor. The bar tender busied himself by wiping the mugs clean. Why he didn't just use magic, I didn't know.

Anyways, we approached the bartender. The bartender was middle-aged with a scruffy beard. When he saw us, his lips turned up into a welcoming smile, and waved for us to sit down. Wow, what a friendly bartender.

"So, I haven't seen you folks 'round here before." The bartender commented in his gravelly, deep British accent, "Welcome to the Leaky Cauldron." He said, as he flourished his wand, creating sparks. That was cool. His wand looked so old-timey, as in it was wood, not metal, and it didn't seem to run on electricity.

"The Leaky Cauldron?" Max asked. "What kind of a name is that?"

Dad was quick to turn around to scold him, but the bartender stopped him. He looked at Max curiously, as if he was a weird, new species.

"Hm. Are you lot American?" he asked us.

"Yes, actually." Our dad answered. "We were looking for a Diagon Alley."

The bartender's eyes widened, in surprise, before he exclaimed, "Diagon Alley? Why are Americans concerning themselves with Diagon Alley?"

"That is, because we're going to Hogwarts." Justin answered. The bartender's eyes widened to the size of saucer plates, if that was possible.

"Blimey! But, are you really? You're attending rather late, aren't you? And why concern yourself with Hogwarts when Salem is right in your neighbourhood?" The bartender asked, like the questions just spilled out of his mouth.

Though, he did have a point. Why weren't we going to Salem, or even Ilvermony, instead? I mean, they had less ridiculous names, for one thing. Two, well, they were in America.

"Oh, that. The headmaster was gracious enough to enroll my children into Hogwarts."

With that, the bartender nodded in understanding. "Ah, I see. Well, that's rather kind of the old codger. Guess that means you lot must be off. You're welcome to come here anytime! Now, follow me and I will open the entrance to Diagon Alley for you." So, the bartender walked around the counter and made us follow him to a brick wall at the side of the room.

He then tapped a specific brick and the wall began to unravel. Like, unravel. Solid brick pushed outwards to create a doorway, and oh my gosh, it was actually genuinely amazing. How did they do that? Can I do that for my own room? Imagine if I was the only one with access to my room just by tapping that one brick? Woah.

Beyond the doorway was actually quite a busy scene. People rushed up and down the cobblestone streets, and went inside and out of the many stores and buildings that were set up at sidewalks. My eyes gazed at the scene in front of us, trying to take everything in. It felt like we were back in the olden days, which I do have first-hand experience in, except there was a less Texan feeling, and a more genuinely ancient one.

I could hear Justin's gasps of wonder and awe at everything around us, and for once I really couldn't blame him. This place was actually cool. Although, what was with the robes? Honestly, didn't people here have style? Whatever.

"Come on kids. We've got to get to uh…Gringotts?" Dad said, as he read off a sheet of worn out paper. What a weird name.

"That's the white building at the end of the street, can't miss it. That's where you exchange your Muggle money into wizarding money." The bartender told us. What was a Muggle? When I asked, Dad said it was their word for mortals. Okay then. Like the saying goes: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do."

"Alright. Thanks." Dad grunted, and off we went.

Gringotts was a huge white building, that seemed to tower the rest of the shopping centre. At the front doors was a really grim poem. Like it was right down sadistic. Basically, it was like this,

 _Enter stranger, but take heed,  
Of what awaits the sin of greed,  
For those who take, but do not earn,  
Must pay most dearly in their turn.  
So, if you seek beneath our floors,  
A treasure that was never yours.  
Thief, you have been warned, beware,  
Of finding more than treasure there._

Like, I said, really grim, right? And if that wasn't weird enough, inside the pristine, white room were a bunch of goblins. Goblins. These wizards let _goblins_ run their banks. And it wasn't like the goblin that I was familiar with, _no_. These ones were short, in really expensive suits, with pointed ears, beady eyes, and hooked noses. Plus, they looked less prone to joking than that Officer Goblin we had ran into a couple of times.

"Woah! This place is so cool!" Max shouted. This earned us a few glares. Whoops. Only a minute inside, and we were already creating a fuss.

Dad ignored them, though, and walked up to the clerk at the other side of the room. The goblin stared at us with suspicious eyes.

"Are you here to withdraw, or to make a transaction?" The goblin drawled. It didn't take its eyes off of the document he (she?) was reading.

"Uh, we'd like to make a transaction please," Dad said as he took out a huge, whopping amount of dollar bills and laid them on the counter in front of the goblin. Woah. Hogwarts must be a pretty big deal, if Dad was willing to spend _that much_ money for us to go. Wait, I think I saw him shed a tear.

The goblin looked up, and peered at us through their specs. He took the wad of bills, and handed it to another goblin, who proceeded to go to another goblin. In a matter of minutes, there was a sizable pouch of coins on the counter. Dad took it, and we exited the building.

Once we were outside, Dad led us to a bunch of stores to buy our stuff. In one store, we bought all our textbooks, and some of them were honestly so cool. There was one hex for Bat Bogeys, like what? How come Americans didn't have a spell for that? And there was this one shop with a bunch of cauldrons, but sadly, we could only buy the pewter ones. Why we could only buy those ones, I didn't know, but at the same time, it wasn't too much of a bother. We also bought a bunch of the standard scales there.

As we shopped, I noticed so many differences with us and these wizards. These wizards seemed laxer in their attitudes than I originally thought. Maybe it was because we were in a shopping district, but still. Also these wizards took their magic seriously. There wasn't any cootie catcher magic here. No, it was all done with their wands, unlike us, who could sometimes do spells without them. Also, this place seemed to pop right out from a fantasy novel. I felt the tingling sensation of magic with every step. For once, I was speechless.

After we bought our uniforms, we walked to a run-down store just a corner away from our previous location. The store's display window presented a single wand upon a cushion. According to the sign in front of it, it was Merlin's wand.

"Woah." Justin whispered, as he stared at the display window. "I never thought I would actually be able to see Merlin's wand."

I grabbed him by his collar and tugged. "Come on, let's get, already." I grunted.

"Just wait a moment, Alex." He dismissed, as he carried on with the staring. I sighed and left him there to his starry-eyed moment. It wasn't worth my effort, anyway.

Inside, Dad and Max were already seated on the wooden stools. I sat beside Dad and asked, "We already have wands. Why do we need another one?"

"Because, Alex, our wands run on electricity, and electricity doesn't work at Hogwarts." He answered.

Oh that makes sense. Wait. Did he say what I think he said?

"D-Did you say that-?" I stuttered, but thankfully, Dad knew what I was going to ask.

"Yes, Alex. I did say that electricity doesn't work at Hogwarts. So you will leave all electronic devices at home."

It was that sentence, that I knew that I was doomed for the rest of the school year. How would I survive without my daily music? Or texting Harper? Hogwarts suddenly seemed like the worst place on earth.

I was spurned from my self-destructive thoughts by a raspy voice, "Good afternoon. Are you all here to buy a wand?"

I looked over at the desk, and behind it was an old man with silver hair that seemed to go all over the place. He beckoned us over, and Max, Justin (who had come in a few moments before), and I followed.

He looked at us under a scrutinizing gaze. "Lift your wand arm." He commanded. Justin and Max lifted their left arms. I lifted my right. The man nodded. He went towards us with a measuring tape and started measuring random body parts. Arms, legs, necklines, even our noses! What this crazy dude was doing, I couldn't guess, but he left to the back and returned with three boxes. He handed one to each of us.

"It seems you have your own wands, but require another to enroll into Hogwarts. To find the right wand for you, you must flick every wand, until we find a compatible wand. After all, the wand chooses the wizard." He told us. He was probably crazy, I concluded. We had gotten our wands through magazines. It's not like they chose us. Right?

I took out the wand from the box, and flicked it. Nothing happened. Well, that was anti-climatic. The old guy took the wand away from me, and handed me another. Again, nothing happened. This happened a few more times for me and Max. Justin, it seemed, got his on the third try.

"Ah!" The old guy exclaimed. "Your wand is marvelous indeed. This wand is made from elm wood, you know. Its core is dragon heartstring. Marvelous, indeed. You must be very adept at magic, for this wand to have chosen you, young sir." Justin only gave a smug grin in response.

The next one I received, I flicked hard in anger. Unlike the others, I felt the familiar tingle in my hand, and blue sparks shot out from my wand. Like with Justin, the old guy took my wand, and inspected it carefully.

"Hmm. An interesting combination. Made of ebony with dragon heartstring. We must expect many, rather unique spells to come from this wand."

Well, that was an interesting analysis. Anyways, he handed the wand back to me, and watched Max thoroughly. Max hadn't found his wand yet. The pile of incompatible wands grew and grew, just like the old man's satisfaction did. At last, after an eternity later, Max flicked a wand, and created an explosion similar to fireworks.

"Very curious, indeed. Combined with dogwood and a phoenix feather, am I right in assuming that your expertise lies in charms?" The wand maker asked Max. Max stared at him dumbfounded.

"Uh, I guess so." He nodded. The wand maker nodded in response. After we paid him, and exited the shop. After browsing for a few more hours, we returned to the Leaky Cauldron, and back into the foggy white portal. Man, Hogwarts better be worth it.

 **A/N: I used the Wands section in Pottermore to come up with their wands. Also, the plot has changed a bit more than I planned, along with a bunch of details. Hehe, sorry about that.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Wizards of Waverly Place belongs to Disney. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Thanks for reading, reviewing, following and favourite-ing. :)**

You would think that waking up for normal school would make me prone to waking up in the ungodly hours of the morning. Well, you thought wrong. On the morning of the first day of Hogwarts, I woke up when Mom forced me out of bed.

"Ugh, what do you want, Mom?" I groaned in my zombie-like state.

"Mija, you have to get to school!" My mother yelled frantically.

"Five more minutes." I groaned into my pillow. What was the rush, anyways? We had like until eleven-o-clock, at least.

"It's ten-thirty, Alex! You're going to miss the train!" With a burst of panic, I- nah, I'm joking. I just got my old wand from my bedside, and muttered, " _This morning has been a drag, go on and pack my bag._ "

All my required clothes and supplies flew into my bag neatly and zipped close. I smiled to myself in satisfaction, despite my mom's disapproving look. A sigh later, she exited my room and probably headed to Max's room. I sighed in satisfaction. Magic was great.

It was only a few minutes later after when I met up with the rest of the family in the lair with my shrunken bags (like I was actually going to make the effort to carry it) and hygienic self. My brothers and I were all stood in a row under the IPP. Dad looked at us one by one, and he seemed onto the verge of tears.

"Be careful, guys." He said to us, finally. "You know the spell to mail things back to us, right?" Dad said. We all nodded.

"Now, do well in school, and Justin keep your younger siblings in line." Mom chastised. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mom.

Justin sniffed before he replied. "I will." He looked like he was about to cry too.

And with the goodbyes exchanged, Dad took the remote control for the IPP and set it to King's Cross Station, Nine-and-Three Quarters. With a whoosh, all of us, one by one, were transported to the station. Well Alex, I told myself, no going back now.

When we landed, thankfully no one broke their ankles or legs. Unfortunately, the red steam train was already there, and a lot of kids rushed past us to get on to the train. Max and Justin followed their suit. As for me, I took the easier way.

Taking out my old wand (I had brought both of them with me) from my left boot, I chanted, _"Threemetris movertris."_ And with a white flash, I was inside the train. I smiled. Since I couldn't use those kind of spells at Hogwarts, might as well make use of them now, right?

I entered a random compartment and made myself feel like home. Basically, I laid down on one of the seats, and prepared myself to take a long nap. Yeah, that nap never happened. Just when I was about to close my eyes, the compartment door opened, and my oh-so-dear brother came and ungraciously barged in. I mentally scoffed. Rude much?

"Alex!" Justin hissed. "How did you get you here so quickly?"

In response, I waved my old wand in the air. I heard a slap when skin met skin and I already imagined Justin's face. Reddening cheeks, scrunched up eyebrows, blaring nose which always reminded me of a bull, and clenched mouth. I simply smiled cheekily and let themselves be seated at the other side of the compartment.

"You know we're not suppose to use those spells here." Justin said, frustrated.

"Well, then what's the point of this wand, then?" I asked him, as I waved my old wand around even more. Honestly, I was going to miss using this wand. Stupid non-electricity policy.

I waited for a response, and when none came, I smirked in satisfaction. Unfortunately, my will to sleep had been lost by the arrival of my two brothers, so I sat up and leaned into the posterior of the seat. Minutes passed where we simply sat there involved in our own activities. Justin was invested in one of the textbooks - _Hogwarts, A History_ , I think- that we bought a few days before. As if that wasn't dorky enough, he was already in the uniform we were required to wear. Meanwhile, I was half-listening to Max's tangent of what could possibly happen upon our arrival. I think he mentioned something about giant animals and him wondering if the castle was actually upside-down in the inside. Without taking his eyes off his book, Justin informed him that it wasn't, but the ceiling was charmed to make it match the sky outside. That was pretty cool. I started toying with spells with my old wand. Right now, I was busy with changing Max's appearance to a dog, then to a troll, a robot, and to many other stuff really.

I sighed, already bored. Our compartment door opened, and a pudgy woman in pink and white robes addressed us,

"Do you want anything off the trolley, dearies?" she asked in a sweet, high-pitched voice, that of course, had a British accent.

Curious, I stood up. When I approached the trolley, it was full of a bunch of food I have never seen before. The food was in colourful packages arranged in baskets. There was something called Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Fizzing Whizbees, Cauldron Cakes, and so many other interesting food, with equally wacky names. So, of course, I took out my pouch of coins (I learned earlier these coins were called Galleons if gold, Sickle if silver, and Knut for bronze) and bought a few of each. A minute later, with my arms full of stuff that will probably cause me diabetes, and a number of coins shorter, I returned to my seat. Dumping the sweets beside me, I took a Pumpkin Pasty, and started to eat it.

Max reached over and took a chocolate frog. When he opened it though, the frog immediately jumped out of his grasp, and placed itself on Justin's face. I laughed, and this gave me an idea. With the chocolate frog on Justin's face, his vision was obscured (along with his cries for help). So, I gestured for Max to hold his head in between his hands, as I did the same.

Taking a deep breath, I chanted, " _Cranium Revolvis_." At the last syllable, Justin's head revolved around really, really fast, along with everyone a foot within our vicinity. In fact, his head was spinning so fast that the frog on his face lost its grip and flew right out the door. A second of silence passed between Max and I before we were victims to full-blown laughter. Oh God, how did that even _happen_? The laughter subsided long after the spell wore off. I wonder what happened to that frog anyway? As if on cue, a deep voice yelled out from outside our compartment.

Two tall and lanky redheads popped their heads in our compartment. "Hello," they said in synchronization. We waved in reply.

"So, what makes you think wasting a perfectly good Chocolate Frog was a good idea?" The one farthest from me asked. He had a sort of deep voice, and of course, he had the British accent. Let's just establish here, right now, that everyone except Justin, Max, and I, have British accents.

"Not to mention, making us dizzy with that hex you cast." The other one pointed out. The twins acted like they were mad, but their teasing tones and matching smirks gave their amusement away.

"Yeah, Alex, what made you think that was a good idea?" Oh, Justin. You and your twitching eyebrow just make my day.

I shrugged. "If you're gonna play a prank, you've got to make sacrifices."

Max nodded. "Yeah. I'm so proud that my Chocolate Frog got to be that sacrifice." He clenched his chest and squeezed his eyes shut.

"A prank, eh?" The twins mused in synchronization. Not going to lie, but I can already tell that this act of theirs is going to get old, big time. "Lousy prank that was, especially not when you compare it with _ours._ "

I raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge, I hear?"

One of them snorted. "As if you could ever do a prank on our scale."

I smirked and clenched my fist. "Watch me," then I gave a sideway glance towards Max. Oh, God, he had that stupid face on. Ugh, fine, whatever. "Actually, watch us."

The twins glanced at each other before they looked back at me. "Alright then." The one with the deeper voice said.

"Let the battle commence. But, of course, we must introduce ourselves to our opponents." The other one said.

"Fred," deep-voice said, "and George Weasley." Other one finished.

I smirked at Fred and George. "Alex and Max Russo. Let the battle begin, boys." I said.

Fred reached his hand out and I gladly took it. Once our hands were firmly clasped together, Fred immediately shrieked in surprise, and pain probably, and let go of my hand. His gaze switched from me to his brother a few times before he exclaimed,

"What the bloody hell was that?" I smiled sweetly and showed him the palm of my hand where a hand buzzer was. It had been on me since yesterday, after Max glued it to my hand by accident. I still couldn't get it off, but it was my saving grace today.

"Like I said. Let the battle begin." I only got a glimpse of their shell-shocked faces before directing the door shut with my wand.

"Alex, what did you just do?" I scoffed. I had forgotten that Justin was with us.

"I just started a prank war, that's what."

"Oh my God, that was so cool!" Max exclaimed. "Hey, Alex, do you think we can really beat them?"

I scoffed at his disbelief. "Of course we can!" I exclaimed. "Actually, I already have a few ideas."

"Really? What are they?" I've never seen Max so engaged in anything before. This was pleasantly surprising.

"Well-,"

"Alex," Justin interrupted. Oh, great. "You can't do this. You'll get us kicked out before we even get there."

I groaned. "Come on, Justin. Don't be such a worrywart. You do your thing, and me and Max will do our thing. Okay?"

His face revealed his warring thoughts. "But, Mom said I had to keep you two in line."

'What Mom doesn't know won't kill her, Justin." I retorted. Justin stayed silent for a few seconds, before he sighed, showing his resignation.

"Fine. But if it fails, I'm going to be right there to tell you, 'I told you so.'"

I shrugged. If I get kicked out, what did it matter? I didn't want to go in the first place. Besides, as long as I don't blow up the school or something, Mom and Dad wouldn't be _too_ mad.

For the past few hours or so, Max and I talked in whispers about the pranks we were going to pull on those twins. With Max's unpredictability and weird experiments, combined with my own expertise and cunning nature, I was absolutely certain that we could out-prank those two redheads. After all, we are the Russos. I briefly wondered if Harper could send us any equipment that we needed, or if any of our usual spells worked with our new wands. Eh, I'll figure that out tomorrow.

"Ok, maybe if we use a like, a Chocolate Frog on them like we did with Justin-"

"No," I interrupted Max. "That's too amateur. They'll expect that,"

"And slam it back in our faces. Got it. You've told me that a million times, already!" He whined and flopped backwards in the seat. I groaned and put my hand in my face. This was so much work! Justin gave a smug little smirk.

"Oh, shut up!" I told him, and threw a magazine that I had taken out some time ago, in his general direction. I ended up throwing it at the door somehow.

"Ow! Bloody hell, mate!" A deep yell erupted from the door. Well, we were getting a lot of visitors today, weren't we? We looked at the once again, open compartment door. I couldn't hold my scowl at the sight of the three newcomers. This was getting ridiculous; didn't they have their own compartment?

The one who had yelled was a lanky redhead reminiscent of the previous twin redheads. He held his cheek and threw a glare at my fallen magazine in front of him. The girl beside him breathed in deeply. Her frizzy locks framed her face, which could be pretty, I suppose, but right now her face portrayed the exasperation she was feeling towards the redhead. Me too, Frizzy, me too. The third person could have blended in the background after Frizzy started to reprimand Redhead. The bespectacled boy stood awkwardly and he looked like he was trying to find the words for this situation.

It wouldn't have been so awkward, but Frizzy and Redhead were really getting it on with their spat and the three of us just sat there not even bothering to stop it. At least, Glasses had the gall to look apologetic.

It was Frizzy that had stopped the banter between them.

"Oh, honestly Ron! We're being rude!" She turned towards us. "I'm really sorry, we were just looking for our compartment. We didn't really mean to interrupt anything. I'm Hermione Granger, this git ("Oi!" the redhead exclaimed) is Ronald Weasley, and well, I'm going to assume you know who he is." She pointed her chin towards Glasses.

"Uh…" I answered intelligibly. Yes, Alex, that was such a first great impression. Keep it up with the moronic façade. "Are we supposed to?" I finally asked.

Their reaction was imminent. Hermione blinked a couple of times, and Ron's jaw could have dropped to the ground; I have a feeling he was the kind of dude that exaggerated everything. In contrast, Glasses looked quite relieved. I raised my eyebrow. Was this guy supposed to be a big deal or something? I mean, the only impressive thing about this guy was his lightning bolt scar. (Ok, that was a really cool scar, like really cool. Is this guy a gang member or something?)

"You really don't know him?" Hermione asked, her eyelids were noticeably still. Ron's jaw was also off the ground at this point.

"It's really alright, 'Mione." Glasses spoke. His voice was quiet. "I'm Harry Potter. Who are you lot?" he asked us.

"I'm Alex Russo, that guy over there," I pointed across me. "is Max. The other guy is Justin. We're transfer students from America."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "America? I thought Hogwarts only accepted students from the United Kingdom."

Justin, Max, and I glanced at one another. I shrugged. "Dad said he had some connections." I finally answered.

"I see. Well, which years are you going into? I doubt they would group you with the first years." Hermione said.

It was Justin who answered. "No. Our dad homeschooled us, and we had summer school at Wiztech."

"Wiztech?" Ron asked. "Never heard of it."

"Be glad." I answered, "It's horrible."

Harry faced me. "It couldn't be as bad as our years in Hogwarts." He said. A part of me wilted inside. Oh god. What did we sign up for?

"I doubt it." I said, although it sounded more like I was reassuring me than him.

Thus, began the rest of our train ride. After a few minutes of letting the trio stand there looking out of place, we made room for them in our compartment. It was fun really. We discovered that all of them were in Gryffindor, and that there were three other Houses in Hogwarts. Ravenclaw, the bookworms, Slyhterins, the people these people didn't like, and Hufflepuffs, the nice ones. At least, that's how I remembered them.

Throughout the train ride, we exchanged stories of crazy teachers, even crazier escapades, and oddly enough, we all had the craziest types of people in our lives. It was a bonus, when I managed to get Ron to spill about any antics the twins had been up to in previous years and got Hermione to get rid of the hand buzzer. What? The glue was thick stuff! In short, this ride was filled with laughs and teasing galore. I really didn't get what Harry was talking about. If this trip was an insight into our school year, it wouldn't be that bad. Whatever, he probably shared Ron's sense of drama. It was nothing, I told myself.

Oh, how wrong I was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Also, I am not using the books as reference for direct quotes, so obviously the quotes aren't going to be direct quotes.**

 **Also, like the last version, there will be swearing scattered throughout the story. Don't say I didn't warn you.**

 **P.S. This will be my last update until mid-terms are over. Thank you for your patience, and to anyone who are also doing mid-terms, good luck!**

The train pulled up to a stop and we were redirected outside. Throngs of students rushed out and hurried on to the carriages that lined up at the station. By the time we arrived, it was already nighttime. I felt my stomach grumble for the taste of real food, and not just the sweets we had been pigging out on in the train.

"First years, first years, come over here! Now remember, only four to a boat!" A plump woman yelled over the crowd and ushered a bunch of eleven-year-olds to the lake as she did so. The woman kept yelling until her grey eyes made contact with the three of us. She shot us a withering stare before saying, "Off with you transfer lot, too!"

Once she had us settled us into a boat, she continued to yell. Justin, Max, and I had ended up in a boat with a scrawny looking boy. He furrowed his eyebrows and gave us a really weird look, until I rose my eyebrow at him. Gulping, he directed his gaze towards the vast lake, which left me with a satisfied feeling in my stomach.

It had only been a few minutes until the school came in view. Did I say school? Sorry, what I meant was the freaking castle. As the peaks of the castle popped into view behind the trees, my mind became blank and my jaw dropped. The only thing I could focus on was the giant castle looming over us, with its turrets and balconies, and the glimmering lights that shone through the windows. I was speechless. _This_ was where I was going to school? This ethereal, beautiful castle that got my fingers itching to draw its every detail, down to the last brick?

I didn't believe it. I could absolutely not believe it. Of course, I had heard descriptions of the castle during the train ride with Harry and the others, but, their descriptions did it no justice. Even as I got off the boat, I stared at the majestic building until I bumped into Justin in front of me. Even then, I couldn't help but crane my neck to process it in its entirety. It wasn't until I heard a cough that I paid attention.

In front of the castle doors, stood a woman with greying hair and a strict gaze. She adorned an emerald green cloak and held a scroll in her hands. Beside her was the other woman who had travelled with us in the boats.

"Professor McGonagall" the latter woman acknowledged.

"Thank you, Professor Grubbly-Plank. You may return to the Head Table. I will take over from here." Professor McGonagall replied and Professor Grubbly-Plank hurried in.

I rose my eyebrow. McGonagall? Grubbly-Plank? What sort of names were those? I mentally shook my head. British names were weird, I concluded.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said. "Before we begin our feast, you must be Sorted."

Sorted? I gave Justin a questioning glance. Unfortunately, he shrugged. Even more unfortunately, Harry and the others had neglected to tell us about this sorting. Beside me, I heard murmurs of questions similar to mine. Did they send us here unprepared for what seemed like a test? I shook my head. British people really were crazy.

"The sorting into houses will be a very important ceremony that will determine your path at Hogwarts." Professor McGonagall continued. "Your house will be like family. You will attend classes with your house, you and your house will eat at the same table, and you and your house will also sleep in the same dormitory and will spend any free time in your common room.

The four houses are Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. During your seven years here at Hogwarts, your achievements will award you with house points, although rule-breaking will make you lose house points. At the end of the year, whoever has the most house points will be awarded the House Cup. I hope that every single one of you will contribute to that honour."

She paused for a moment and stared at the crowd of us with wary eyes, as if she was already weeding out the troublemakers. I allowed a small grin on my face. House Cup? What kind of honour was that? It was just a cup. Although, considering how I had been wrong about everything so far, a small part of me doubted my thoughts.

"Come along now, the sorting ceremony will start soon, and I'd rather have you inside than out. I will come back for you when the ceremony will start." With a flourish of her cloak, she led us into a wide corridor. If the outside of the school was amazing, the inside would obviously be the same.

Floating candles dimly lit the corridor and the steps of about fifty kids or so, echoed throughout the long corridor. The walls adorned carvings and tapestries that no doubt held the history of the school in their artwork. I glanced around, the same fluttery feeling I had felt in Diagon Alley came back as my eyes greedily took in the décor. If the corridor looked like this, I wondered what the rest of the castle looked like? I briefly remembered the enchanted ceiling that Justin mentioned on the train. That had to be an amazing sight.

"This is pretty cool, isn't it Alex?" Max whispered as he nudged me with his elbow. I nodded.

"Imagine if we found any secret passages in here." He continued as he stared skeptically at the wall beside him. I nodded again. That made sense. Surely a castle this big had to have some secret passages right? My mind whirred as a plan formed in my head. Maybe, if we were lucky enough, we could find a secret passage that even the Weasley twins didn't know about. My mouth curled up into a mischievous smile.

When Professor McGonagall returned, nerves were high as kids tried to figure out how we would be sorted. I swear that I heard someone say we would be fighting a troll. I snorted. Yeah, right. I was very glad to say that I was not worried at all. To be honest, it didn't matter to me which house I would be in, as no matter what, I would still wreak havoc within the school. Not to mention, become the family wizard faster than my brothers could chant a spell. Max seemed to have the same confidence as me, as he had spent this time poking around the walls for a secret entrance of some sort. I had even suggested that he tapped the walls with his wand a few times. Predictably, he had. Unfortunately, his efforts gave no results.

Needless to say, we were a very fine group as Professor McGonagall led us to a wide room of people at four different tables, as the adults sat at a table at the front of the room. My breath hitched as I fully took in the room.

Justin had been right. There was indeed an enchanted ceiling inside the Great Hall and we were led between two long tables that were filled to the brim with students. Two more tables were beside each one. I glanced around as my eyes took in the view of the floating candles (this would be annoying if the wax ever dripped, I realized) and my ears were filled with the happy chatter of students. I glanced up at the Head Table at the front and was met with the sight of an old man with a silver beard and half-moon spectacles. His eyes glittered as he spotted us first years. In front of the head table was a stool with a frayed, aged hat upon it. It was covered in patches. This did absolutely nothing to contradict the Europeans' already weird image. No, it was not ironic that as a wizard myself, I found this world absolutely strange. Nope, zilch, zero irony here.

At this point, I was swerving around frantically trying to see how we were going to be sorted. It wasn't until Justin shook my shoulder and gasped out "It's starting," did a horrible thought crossed my mind. My eyes returned to the worn hat on the stool. Surely not….

My thoughts were both confirmed, yet not, as a rip opened at the hem's hat and it began to _sing,_ I blinked my eyes as it sang verses of lyrics to a unique tune. I looked around and was glad to see that many of the new students were as befuddled as I was. (Max, was of course, an exception to this rule and began to sing along by the third verse."

"… _anywhere_

 _As Slytherin and Gryffindor?_

 _Unless it was the second pair of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,_

 _So how could it have gone so wrong?_

 _How could such friendships fail?_

 _Why I was there, so I can tell, the whole sad story tale…."_

At this point, the hat began to sing about the history of Hogwarts, how Slytherin had wanted to teach only the people with pure blood (whatever that meant), how Ravenclaw wanted to teach only the ones with the surest minds (I scoffed a bit at that), how Gryffindor wanted to teach only the brave (I rolled my eyes; why were all these people so selective?), and Hufflepuff, who would take anyone who wanted to learn magic (I kind of felt bad that Hufflepuff was treated as the leftover house). None of these houses were looking particularly appealing to me.

Then the Hat started to sing about the strife this caused between the four, until Slytherin went away, and the remaining three united. After, it warned us that while it would sort us and to do its duty, we would need to unite and to not repeat history. At this, I gulped. What…what kind of school was this? My mind wandered over to my normal high school and my chest felt a small pang of homesickness.

When the song finished, Professor McGonagall stood up and proceeded to call names from a very long, very thick scroll. Names were called, people were sorted, and cheers came from all four tables (although the loudest were the ones to the far right). As our group decreased, I waited with baiting breath, and wondered which House I would be sorted in. Then, I reminded myself that I didn't care. I would only be here for two years, anyway. Yet, a small part of my mind couldn't help but wonder.

Soon, the list had reached the R's and my name was called, "Russo, Alexandra!"

I cringed at the use of my full name as I walked forward to the stool. The hat was placed upon my head, and I felt it whisper in my mind, ear? Whichever, it whispered.

" _Now, where to put you?"_ Its voice was raspy, and a chill ran down my back.

 _Get on with it._ I snapped, and my stomach grumbled again.

" _I'd appreciate your patience, this is a very strenouous process in your case."_ It responded. I bit my lip at the thinly veiled insult.

" _Not Hufflepuff, that is for certain. I feel you would not reach your potential in Ravenclaw. Perhaps Gryffindor? You certainly like to play the hero."_ It mused. My eyes widened at the last part. How had it known that?

" _I can see your personality, Alex. Maybe Slytherin would suit you as well. Hmm…. Choices are quite hard. Slytherin the sly, or Gryffindor the brave?"_

I bit my lip harder. I wanted off this stool now.

 _Just choose!_ I tried to yell at it; unfortunately, thoughts tended to be the same volume. _It doesn't matter._

" _Don't get your knickers in a twist. I have chosen;_ GRYFFINDOR!"

The second it yelled my House, I quickly took the Hat off and scurried to the loud table, where the red headed twins (oh god, this _had_ to be a joke) greeted me.

"Hello there!" one of them said.

"It's a nice surprise seeing you here." The other one continued. They had two matching smirks that told me they had planned something. I smiled at them in a sickly sweet way before I turned my attention back to the Sorting.

Justin had only been there for a few seconds before the Hat had declared him a part of Ravenclaw house. I remembered that that was the smart House. I smiled, although I didn't need a magic hat to tell me that my brother belonged in that House. Next up was Max, who had spent a few minutes up there, probably conversing with it. A few minutes later, Max joined Hufflepuff. With all of us sorted, I stopped paying attention. My eyes drifted towards the Head Table. Seated to the far left, was a woman with extravagant clothing. The back of my mind tickled as I tried to remember why she looked so familiar.

Before I could come to a conclusion, polite applause erupted from all the tables and the stool and Hat were taken away. Once everything had settled, the old wizard with twinkly eyes, stood up and proclaimed,

"Welcome back to Hogwarts Witchcraft and Wizardry! I hope that all of you would have had the chance to empty your heads during the summer break."

I smirked. At least the old man knew his students.

"Is it true what they say? That Dumbledore's gone barmy?" One of the younger kids whispered besides me.

"Oh, don't listen to them. He hasn't lost his marbles." I heard Hermione whisper in reply. I swear she had added yet at the end of that sentence. My smirk widened. Crazy headmasters? Talking hats? Maybe, this school wasn't so bad.

"This year, we have three new teachers. To fill in the spot of Professor Hagrid for the Care of Magical Creatures is Professor Grubbly-Plank. Assisting with the Potions classes will be Professor Eupraxia. This year, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is none other than Professor Umbridge!"

At this exclamation, Harry, who was sitting in front of me a few chairs a way, tensed his shoulders and whispered something to Ron and Hermione who were on either side of him. I shrugged and turned my attention back to the table where a woman who looked like Mean Girls 50-year-old edition, stood up and actually pretended to clear her throat in a sickly, sweet voice. Like, she actually went 'Hem, hem' and all of that. Who does that? She then turned her attention to Dumbledore, who peered at her above his half-moon spectacles.

"If I may," the lady in pink started in her really sickly sweet voice (it's a redundant yet spot-on description), "I would like to announce something to the _lovely_ students."

A moment of silence and shocked passed around the Great Hall, as students and teachers alike stared at the stout woman who had proceeded to walk over to the podium where Dumbledore was. Dumbledore, keeping up with being a gentleman apparently, stood aside and let her have the stage. The comparison between this woman and Regina George seems like a really good comparison, at this point. Except, Regina George looked more like an actual bitch than a pink toad, but details, details, who needs 'em?

"Hem, hem." She fake-coughed again. Everyone who had started to drift off-including me- looked up and gave her our full attention. When she was satisfied, she went on a tangent of this and that, and I could see and feel the apathy radiating off of the majority of the students. In fact, the only person listening with rapt attention at the Gryffindor table was Hermione Granger. It felt like hours when she finally finished, and Dumbledore returned to his podium.

Throughout Dumbledore's opening speech, the awkwardness that resulted from the Umbridge's interruption stayed. It was only when the whole array of food popped up that everyone's spirits brightened. My eyes widened at the sight of the food, and I thanked my eternal wisdom of ignoring Harper and had not gone on a diet. Of course, the first thing I looked for was loose corn and biscuits. Unfortunately, they only had the latter, so I started with those and a goblet of pumpkin juice. After tasting _just_ this, I melted. This was so good. Maybe I should steal one of their chefs for when I go back for the summer or something. It was that heavenly. Thus, I went ahead and ate everything within my reach.

Besides me, I could hear the twins whispering to each other and chuckling. I stopped mid-bite when I remembered that this was _wizard_ school, with _wizard students_ who I had started a _prank war_ with earlier that day. Immediately, I checked everything on me for any weird and totally embarrassing changes. I needed to make an impression and prank victim _wasn't_ going to be that impression. When I had made sure that absolutely nothing was wrong with me, I took a bite of the treat that I had put down.

Remind me to like, erase your minds or something after this. When I bit into the small piece of candy, and swallowed, I immediately felt a lurch in my stomach and my guts twist unnaturally. My first reaction was: What the hell? My second was to crouch down underneath the table and try to stop it before any of my stomach's contents actually came out of my mouth. This, of course, just made it feel like I was on my period. My eyes widened as I tried to keep the vomit in and the period pains out. I slithered out of the table and tried to look as natural as possible. Beside me, the redheaded devils were laughing their heads off.

"How do you like that?" One of them said, his blue eyes flashing with mirth.

"We did it to your brother too. He ran out of here a few minutes ago. Suggest you do the same." The other twin said.

I gave them the scariest glare I could muster, which just made them laugh harder, go figure. My next course of action was taken more drastically. I flipped them off. This didn't deter them in the way I had hope it did. (It had scandalized Mason, I was kinda hoping for the same reaction to provide a small satisfaction on my part). Instead, these two just started to _act_ offended-and they didn't even do it realistically!

As they fell over each with their stupid overreactions, I cursed them mentally as my right hand cupped my mouth and tried to stop the vomit that insisted on coming out, and my stomach, which by now, made me want to scream in pain.

When the twins had stopped laughing, I pleaded with my eyes, and the one to the right (I think he's the nicer one), nudged the other one.

"I think we should stop. She looks really bad Gred. We've never had someone resist for this long, what if something happens?"

The other twin widened his eyes in slight alarm. "It shouldn't right?"

The first twin shrugged. At this the other sighed in defeat and started to go through his pockets frantically. When he had found what he was looking for, he handed it to me. In his hand was a green candy similar to the one that put me in the situation. I gave him a scathing look.

"Look, just take it or deal with the vomit in your mouth."

…I took it and shoved it into my mouth. I swallowed the candy along with the vomit (the whole experience was disgusting, don't ask for details) and I relaxed as the taste of vomit slowly vanished. I glared at them again.

"What the fuck was that?" I demanded, my right hand going towards my right boot.

"Woah, language. A thank you would be nice." The nice twin answered, holding his hands up.

"A _thank you?_ For what? Fixing the problem, _you created?"_ I asked them, and whipped out my wand.

"Well, yeah. Or you know, a 'congrats for winning the prank war.'" The other one said.

I snorted. "As if I'm going to be defeated by _candy_ , of all things. Watch me do even better."

"Oh, really?" The two asked in unison. Their eyebrows were quirked up, in mirror-like fashion.

"That's quite impossible-."

"Many have tried,"

"And failed."

"Also lost quite a few of their limbs."

"So, what do you have that they didn't?" They asked me, in unison again.

I stood up, my appetite gone, and smirked. "I'm American with spells you've never seen before. That's what."

My smirk widened and I sashayed out of the room in true Gigi fashion (for the first and last time in my life), and didn't even bother with looking at their reactions behind me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Wizard of Waverly Place belongs to Disney. Thanks to everyone who reads this story, reviews, followed, and favourited. :)**

 **Warning: Few swears spread throughout the story…mostly from Alex…yeah…**

 **Point of View shifts in this chapter.**

 **P.S. In this AU, Justin was finished being taught by his Dad/Wiztech early. This is only because I'm not sure if it's canon or not. Also, mid-terms are over! Hope that we all are blessed with good grades- got to make those all-nighters mean _something,_ amirite? Anyways, enjoy!**

 **Third POV**

A lone figure sped through the night sky as they had done for the past two days. Their eyes squinted as they flew against the wind current. The desperate flapping of wings was scarcely heard over the howling winds and the noise of the city below.

They were on an important mission, and the small figure didn't know who else to turn to. When it happened a few days ago, she knew she had to tell him. Otherwise, well, she didn't know what would happen. The small figure's limb burned as they accelerated their speed and searched for brick castle walls. They weren't sure that this could wait one more night. Not if they were as powerful as they seemed.

This figure was Juliet Van Heusen in her furry bat form. She worked her ears to the max, listening to any disturbances in the air that could signal glamour spells. Usually, it would take her so much quicker than a few nights, but maybe it was her arm, or perhaps it was her anxiety that stopped her from performing as well. If she were alive, she knew that it would have shut down because it would have been beating that frantically into the little _thump-thump-thump_ rhythm that humans' hearts usually went to.

It had been another several moments of empty black skies and straining her ears, until she found it. Echolocation was always a reliable way to find things in the dark- especially if your eyesight was bad. A small smile graced her bat face as she flew to the location, checking over and over to ensure that there was no mistake. When she finally arrived, she didn't bother with sight-seeing and flew about, flitting to every window until she could find him.

She finally found him in one of the seventh-floor dormitories with a bunch of other boys who were currently sleeping. Unfortunately, he too, was sleeping. Juliet tried hard not to be let down. It was to be expected, of course. She knew he tried to sleep early to ensure that he was well and alert the next morning.

Sighing in defeat, she turned back into her human version and landed precariously on the window ledge. She ran a hand through her tangled and windblown hair, and used her other hand to open the window. Fortunately, it didn't creak and she got in with no difficulty. The room's smell reminded her of her own castle (or well, she had resided there once) in Transylvania back in the 1400s. She quickly searched for a parchment and quill (she had to scoff at the old-school supplies) and wrote a small note to Justin.

And just as she had arrived, she left just as quickly, and as quietly. The only evidence of her arrival, was the open window that let in a cool breeze into the dorm.

Justin would wake up the next morning to the scent of vanilla.

 **Alex's POV**

That morning, Justin, Max, and I went to get our schedules sorted out. Apparently, once students have reached third year, they were allowed electives that they chose the year before. As we didn't attend the year before, we had to do it now, right before the schedules were handed out. This meant that we were sent to Dumbledore's office _before breakfast._ Now, going to the principal's office has become the norm for me, but this early in the morning? I'm pretty sure we just broke some kind of record.

Professor McGonagall led us to a long corridor where the walls were half windows and half concrete. The morning rays illuminated our path, and the swish of our cloaks as they swept across the floor followed us. None of us spoke- guess we were all too scared of the woman leading us to the office. Professor McGonagall still had the regal air of authority despite it being so early in the morning.

It was some time before we finally stopped in front of a griffin gargoyle. Professor McGonagall stopped in front, and we followed her lead.

"Sherbet lemon." Was all she said and the gargoyle slid aside to reveal a long circular staircase. My mouth dropped in astonishment. I stay rooted to my spot as I stared at the staircase in front of me. It was only when Professor McGonagall was halfway up the stairs that I scurried my butt as fast as I could. I really hoped that these stairs were shorter than they looked.

They were not. By the time I was up the stairs, I was breathing heavily as the stitch in my side throbbed. I held on to Justin's shoulder, who was miraculously fine despite being less active than I was…somewhat. By the time my breathing steadied and the burning sensation faded, I was already staring at the marvel that was Professor Dumbledore's office.

It was a large circular room that was full of shiny trinkets or what not. The walls were adorned with paintings-most were asleep, while other looked on silently, in ennui. North of the room was a great giant desk filled with parchment and inks and quills. On the corner sat a small jar of sherbet lemon (the password made sense all of a sudden) and a small, empty perch stood beside it. The man himself sat behind his desk, his half-moon spectacles peering over a parchment paper that was separated from the other files. I mentally groaned. Paperwork. I wasn't even the one doing it, yet I already felt mentally drained. On Professor Dumbledore's shoulder was a bird that resembled fire. It looked over at us, and strangely, I felt self-conscious. I chided myself and followed the others to a small room connected to the circular one.

"Quietly now," Professor McGonagall told us. "Professor Dumbledore is a _very_ busy man and we are not to disturb him."

When we entered the small room, she sat behind a large wooden desk and put out three sheets of parchment. She stared at us, and tilted her head in the chair's direction. We decided to follow her unsaid instructions.

"Now, this is a very important process, as whatever subjects you choose this year, will affect any subjects you may choose next year, which will of course, affect any jobs you may choose in the future." She said, as she handed out booklets to each of us. Then she looked up. "And we at Hogwarts understand your special situation of family wizards, so it is wholly more important for you to _stay focused._ Your father, Professor Crumbs, and Professor Dumbledore, have decided that your grades _will_ affect your standing in your family competition." As she said this, a look of disdain crossed her face, then it disappeared a second later.

"In these booklets are every course in Hogwarts and its description of them. Choose wisely, and inform me of your choice on these parchments. You will start your first day of school tomorrow, so details may be finalized and you can familiarize yourself with the castle. Hand these in by tonight, or come to me if you have any questions. You may find me here, in the Great Hall, or in my classroom on the fifth floor corridor. You may find that the compulsory subjects are already on your piece of parchment. You are dismissed."

With a swish of her cloak, she left the room. Justin, Max, and I scanned our sheets. On my parchment were nine slots, although only two of them were empty. In the first seven slots were Transfiguration, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Astronomy, and History of Magic. I sighed. Nine subjects? Who the hell decided this system? I sighed again and looked through the booklet. The title was, " _Subjects for the Fifth Year Witch or Wizard."_

In the table of contents were five subjects: Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Muggle Studies. As I flipped through them, none of them seemed really appealing. Ancient Runes was like studying Spanish, although I don't think there's a know-it-all elf for that one even if I could get one. Arithmancy was magical math which really didn't sound appealing. Nowhere in life did I use algebra, where in the magical world am I going to use that? Care of Magical Creatures was sort of cool, but I was catastrophic around animals of any kind. Divination sounded like an easy class despite it sounding like a load of bull. Nevertheless, I put it in.

Muggle Studies was just a class of things I already knew about, so I discarded it immediately. After all, what was the point of knowing about Muggles, if I was going to become the family wizard, right?

 _You might not._ The little voice in my head said. I rolled my eyes. This little voice always popped up whenever I mentioned being a family wizard. It was probably my own insecurities, but it was so much better to pretend it was a different entity altogether.

I wrote Muggle Studies down in the last slot anyway.

I stared at the two newly written courses on my parchment and sighed. It was better for me to choose easy classes. Choosing something like Arithmancy might just give me a grade that takes me out of the competition. I sighed. Stupid dad and loony headmasters, forcing me to get good grades.

I glanced at Justin and Max beside me. Justin was out of his seat, pacing the entirety of the room, mumbling to himself. I stood up and looked at his parchment. He was going to be in the seventh year class, even though there were probably prerequisites for that kind of stuff. Then I remembered. Justin _finished_ school already. This, this thing would be easy for him. I bit my lip and tried to stop the voice of that annoying inner entity. Maybe it was a good thing I chose Muggle Studies. I went back to my seat and looked over my own parchment again. I sighed. Nevertheless, I took the parchment and walked out of the room and into Dumbledore's office.

I was halfway across the room when Dumbledore spoke.

"Having trouble, Miss Russo?"

I glanced at him, to see his twinkling eyes and silvery beard. On his hand was the bird from earlier. The desk had less paperwork too.

"Eh, it's cool." I replied and shrugged my shoulders.

"I see." He nodded to himself. He took a candy from the small jar. "Sherbet lemon?"

I shook my head. "No thanks."

"I see. Enjoy your stay at Hogwarts, Miss Russo. And remember, our choices define us more than our abilities."

And with that, he went back to his paperwork. I raised an eyebrow. Alright then. The guy knows how to create dramatic tension, that's for sure. I walked out of the office door and began my trip to the Great Hall.

That was on the second floor, right? I groaned. Maybe I should just go back to the Common Room.

It had only been a few days since classes started and they absolutely suck. It wasn't even the actual subjects themselves, but the homework, and something called owls. Or rather, O.W.L.S. Apparently it stood for Ordinary Wizarding Levels. All I got from it was that it was basically like our final exams. Great. Also, the no technology thing wasn't too bad…even if I found that my thumbs tried to text on a non-existent keyboard at times.

I sighed as I headed towards the History of Magic classroom, my bag full of parchment paper, quills, inkbottles, and textbooks. The front desk was occupied by a ghost, yet most of the class were either sleeping or doing something else to occupy their time. I smirked. I headed in and ignored the rows of students and seated myself at the back. I took out a new scroll of parchment and my quill and ink. Then I took out my wand and started to make colorful wisps come out of the tip. I still hadn't mastered this wand, nor do I know if I can even cast my old spells with it. Perhaps if I give it a try…?

I breathed in and chanted underneath my breath, " _Animoza espinoza._ "

Suddenly, a flash of bright light appeared, and when it dissipated, the student in front of me turned into a tabby cat. It turned around to face me and yowled. Their friend, a boy with shaggy blond hair from Ravenclaw, did the same.

"Oi! I dunno how you did that but you better change her back!" he exclaimed.

This comment combined with the cat's loud meows turned a few heads in our direction. I smirked, although I kind of wished that I could hide somewhere. I wasn't used to so many people seeing me using magic outright.

"Oi, what's the holdup, mate?" The blond said irritated. "Change 'er back!"

I rolled my eyes. "Keep your cool, why don't cha?"

I waved my wand again and chanted, " _Humanoza espinoza._ "

A flash of white light appeared again and the tabby turned back into a cat. She gave me a green-eyed glare before turning to face the front. I rolled my eyes. At least it was kind of fun while it lasted.

"Hey, are you from America?" The person to my right asked. Surprisingly, this guy didn't have an accent.

I turned toward them. They were a boy that looked more Justin's age than mine with curly light brown hair. His hazel eyes lit up with amusement and his lips curled upwards. He was wearing the standard clothes, although his crest showed that he was from Slytherin.

"Yes." I drawled out while scratching my neck. "And you are?"

"Dominic Gormindo. Nice to meet you." He said and held out his hand.

I took it. His hand was soft yet his grip was strong-a bit too strong. "I'm Alex Russo."

He retracted his hand and raised his eyebrow. "Alex Russo, huh?" He turned toward the front where our ghost teacher droned on about the goblin wars or something. "I think you and I will be great friends."

I had been twirling my wand at that point and stopped mid-spin to look at him. "Uh…," I looked at him awkwardly. "I think so too?"

His only response was a smirk.

 **Third POV**

It had been a few days since Justin Russo had received the note. Everyday he had fumbled with the note and visited the location that it specified at the exact minute. Yet, the person who had sent the note was a no-show. Justin had contemplated on giving up and letting bygones be bygones, yet the person's hurried scrawls and the smudged writing indicated that this was urgent. It mostly intrigued Justin that this person had not appeared yet despite the alarmed tone of the note.

In Potions class, he had lost ten points for getting distracted about the note and its sender. All day he couldn't help but fiddle with the parchment and wonder. It was in Alchemy class that he decided to visit one last time before calling it a lost cause.

And so, once classes ended and everyone headed to the Great Hall for dinner, he snuck outside and headed to the lake underneath the willow trees. Checking his watch -for some reason, magic hadn't interfered with its batteries- he determined that he was here at the right time. Thus, he waited.

Justin watched the lake's gentle waves as he laid against the rough bark of the tree. He sighed in content. Perhaps Justin always waited because of the calm atmosphere that this particular area had. As the sunset continued, the sky turned a mix of reds, pinks, purples, and dark blues. From what he could see, there were many stars that glittered in the night sky, which was a great contrast to the smoky skies of New York. Also, out here, the only sounds were the whistling of the wind, bird chirps, and the faded sounds of creatures from the Forbidden Forest. Not to mention the whish sound that the Whomping Willow made. It was a nice break from the chatter of so many students and the castle's other occupants.

Yet, it didn't stop him from doing homework. What was the point of wasting time anyway? He reasoned.

He was in the middle of his Ancient Runes essay outline when a familiar voice called out to him. Not daring to believe his ears, Justin looked up to see the dark outline of a girl his age. He packed away his essay and neared the girl. As he neared her, the girl's features became clearer and clearer. Blonde messy locks streamed from her head, her brown eyes twinkled despite the lack of light, and a friendly fang-filled grin adorned her face.

Justin smiled widely. So Juliet was the letter sender! Justin picked up his speed and engulfed her in a tight hug.

Juliet grunted as she wrapped her arms around him. "Hey, Justin, missed you too." She wheezed out.

Embarrassed, Justin let go of her and took a step back. He opened his mouth to say anything, anything at all, but the only thing the came out was excited sounds that resembled a sea lion.

Finally, he managed to ask, "Wh-What are you doing here?"

If Juliet could breathe, she would have stopped. Instead, she rubbed her left forearm and avoided his gaze. Justin blinked, his smile dropping.

"What's wrong?" he asked, taking her hands into his.

"It's just, well, I just, where do I even begin?" Juliet asked more to herself than him. She let out a nervous chuckle.

"How about from the beginning?" Justin suggested.

"Uh, I guess." She responded before taking a huge breath even though it was unnecessary. "Well, this started to happen a few months ago. People in black cloaks started to visit the restaurant, and it went on for a while, right? My folks and I didn't really suspect anything because we thought they were like us, vampires from other clans. We were right but, uh," she looked up at him. "You might not like this part."

"It's okay. Just go on."

"Alright. So, a few months after they started visiting, a few of them stayed behind until closing time. It was then that one of them talked to us. Apparently they _were_ from a vampire clan, and they were looking for more members for their cause. Which was the usual, vampire politics, like power or the right to hunt humans without being persecuted by any of the wizarding governments, the usual.

"But, here's where it gets weird. They said they found someone who could achieve that and let the vampires get what they wanted. This got my parents interested. I know, we've tried going vegan, but my parents mostly, want to drink blood freely again. It's how vampires naturally are. So they started asking who this person was. All this person said was that this guy was powerful, and we only needed to join the cause for our freedom. They were really convincing, and my parents were hooked.

"So, they took us to this mansion last week, and we meet this guy who apparently came back from the dead. You might know him." She looked up at Justin, her hands clutching tightly onto his.

"Uh, he said his name was Lord Voldemort."

It took a few minutes for Justin to comprehend what she had said. Lord Voldemort, where had he heard that before? Suddenly a memory clicked. It was the wizard in the news. The one the Daily Prophet declared gone and that Harry Potter was creating stories, claiming of his return from the dead. Apparently he was like some wizard version of Hitler or something, killing witches and wizards with mortal-er, Muggle- blood.

His hands felt as cold as Juliet's dead ones and his heart felt like it dropped a few feet.

"No." Justin chuckled nervously. "He's, he's dead, isn't he? I mean, unless he's a vampire?"

Juliet shook her head. "We all thought so, but this guy, well, he just talking about _his_ cause for all purebloods and how if the vampires helped him, we would get what we wanted."

"But, it's a trick! It's got to be." Justin faltered at the sight of Juliet's wry smile.

"It doesn't stop my parents from joining the cause. You can join too, Justin. It sounds bad, but it seems to be genuine."

"Juliet…," he started, but Juliet pressed her finger against his lips.

"I know, I know, but just _imagine._ Wouldn't it be amazing if we could live as what we are, all of us?" She looked at him, brown eyes glistening. "Justin, if you join, you won't _need_ the Family Wizard stuff. You, Alex, _and_ Max can be wizards. You could do magic freely in front of mortals. N-none of you would have to die."

"Juliet, I-I…" Justin protested.

Juliet sighed. "Never mind. I just…" She faltered into silence as she rubbed her arm.

Justin raised an eyebrow. "Juliet, what is that?"

Juliet raised her left sleeve to reveal a skull tattoo with a snake coming out from it, its body swerved into an eight. Her mouth straightened into a line, her eyes stoic and blank met with his sad ones.

"If you don't join, the next time we meet, we will be enemies."

 **A/N: I feel like Voldemort will literally tell anyone anything to join his forces. Like, I really believe that. I mean, he was willing to spare the life of a Muggleborn so Snape can stay loyal. He took Pettigrew's want for protection against his friends to get to the Potters. Plus, he's a** _ **Slytherin.**_ **Not all Slytherins are bad, but when Slytherins have a goal, whether good or bad, they do** _ **absolutely anything**_ **to reach it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Wizard of Waverly Place belongs to Disney. Thanks to anyone who reads this, reviewed, favourited or/and followed. :)**

 **Warning: Few swears spread throughout the story…mostly from Alex…yeah…**

 **P.S. In this AU, Justin was finished being taught by his Dad/Wiztech early. This is only because I'm not sure if it's canon or not. Also, the points thing that I mention later is** _ **completely**_ **random.**

So, this prank war thing that me and the Weasley Twins have got going?

I got detention because of it and I absolutely hate it.

I mean, _sure_ , when Max and I get them, it's hilarious and brilliant, but when they get us, it's humiliating and I just kind of want to die. It's literally only November, and the pranks take up so much effort. I didn't realize that when I had told them that I would do this, that I would actually put this much effort! I just figured I could turn them into a horse or a troll or something and leave it. Well, Max and I did that and they poured a bunch of slime on us which turned our entire beings pink, then made us sing in off-key voices and then made us run around the castle. Then another time, they made our rooms go upside-down, right-side up, again and again randomly. I had to sleep in the common room that night. Unbelievable, really. There were other minor stuff too, like enchanting stuff that revealed embarrassing stuff, or grabbing my sketchbook and revealing its _entire contents to the whole House of fucking Gryffindor.._

Of course, we got them too. Max and I figured mortal-influenced pranks would work best on them. Thus, among our other pranks (such as enchanting their feet so it made them feel like they were stepping on Legos, casting a spell that made them smell like catnip), our best prank was the Slenderman prank.

This prank took a really long time and took the most effort. On the night of an early October feast, was the setting of the prank. It started with a low, eerie hum. And then all of a sudden, a gust of magical wind blew and the entire Great Hall was immersed in darkness. There were screams everywhere. The only source of light came from the ceiling and its artificial stars. Prefects and teachers lit up their wands. Fred and George did that too, but that was expected. The music grew louder at this point, and while the temperature didn't drop, a white faceless head appeared in the Twin's visions. (This was Max in disguise, by the way). Thus, the chase began. Fred and George attempted to hide from Slenderman, but they could not escape him. Now this was a very tricky piece of magic that worked like the one in video games where you just keep going around and around in circles. Soon, other people saw Slenderman too and ultimately freaked out, especially when he started teleporting. Now, he wasn't really teleporting (we can't do that in the palace-unbelievable, ugh), but I summoned mirrors in the appropriate places. Thus, in the end, we gained a few points on that one, and befriended a lot of Muggleborns.

Although, it should be absolutely no question that Justin lectured the both of us and said something about putting that much of our efforts into our studies rather than pranks. From the look of it, Hermione was lecturing the Twins too. Ah, there's always one no matter what kind of magic used, isn't there?

Miraculously, that didn't earn us detention. What did earn us a detention though was when Max decided to not consult me and start a prank called, food fight. Yep. One random average day, Max, suddenly goes and yells, "Food fight!" and throws it into one of the Twin's faces.

And that is why, I am here late at night, polishing a bunch of trophies. I groaned as I slid the washcloth down on one of the gold plaques. In the gleaming surface, I stared at my frowning reflection. Why was life so unfair to me? The teachers even took away my wand for the weekend! How was I supposed to know that Max put a Sticking Charm on the food he threw around? Ugh. It's honestly so annoying. Fortunately, the thought of the Weasley Twins finding random pieces of food while doing their own detention made me happier.

Speaking of Max, I wondered how well he was doing with Umbridge? I involuntary shuddered and moved on to the next trophy. At least this was better than whatever that toad was doing. Ever since Harry and even the twins got her for detention, it was common knowledge in Gryffindor that detention with Umbridge was like visiting hell.

I was wiping the last of the trophies (or rather, the last that I would bother doing) when Professor McGonagall opened the door and entered with her emerald night robe and hair curlers. I stifled a laugh. Hair curlers? On McGonagall? That was unexpected.

"That will suffice for tonight, Miss Russo," she said. Yet, even in night robes, she acted every bit like the strict Deputy that she was. "I expect that you will know better than to make a massacre of the Great Hall. Now go on, before the Prefects catch you out of curfew."

Grinning, I skipped over to McGonagall expectantly. She looked at me skeptically with a raised eyebrow before she sighed and reached into her night robes and handed me my wand. Oh, my precious wand, we're reunited again.

"I expect that this wand will be handled with more responsibility, Miss Russo," she chided, although her lips were pulled slightly at the corners.

I smirked in response. "Yes, ma'am." I saluted and slipped my wand back into my boot. Then, I went past the professor and walked out the door to my freedom.

I was strolling through the massive halls, casually noting the details in the building. I wasn't really worried about getting caught. It's not like they would put a Prefect or teacher on duty at _every_ corner of Hogwarts. This place was huge.

I regretted that thinking when I heard a _click-clack_ that I was sure was coming from heels. I cursed at my bad timing. I wasn't too panicked, but I didn't really want another detention for misunderstanding so I tried hiding behind a statue. As the sound of heels against the stone floor became louder and louder, I withdrew my wand from my boot and twirled it around myself, thus casting the Disillusionment Charm.

As soon as I finished it, I tip-toed quietly towards the bend in the corridor. Too bad, I realized my mistake too late. The person was getting closer- at this point, I could understand their voice.

"I don't even understand why you even sent me here, boy!" The person exclaimed quietly with a taut voice, yet also a bit of flair. What caught my attention was this person's lack of an accent. I narrowed my eyes. For a European school, Hogwarts sure had a lot of American occupants.

I forced myself to freeze in my spot at the corner of the corridor just besides the turn that would lead to the common room.

"I am sure you have noticed that _they_ are here. Would you not like the opportunity to end them?" Another voice spoke; their soft-spoken voice reminded me of someone-if I could just remember…

Anyways, who was this _them_? Endless questions whirred my head. What did their mean by _end_ exactly? I didn't want to automatically assume it meant _death_ , but I struggled to find another answer. If so, how would this happen and how did they get inside in the first place? A shiver went up my spine at my thoughts. My breaths quickened and my hands felt clammy. No, they wouldn't….

My eyes widened as a woman wearing brown robes underneath a purple cloak walked past along with a lean figure beneath a black robe. Wide black eyes glinted as they glared at the cloaked figure beside them. If I had attempted to speak, nothing would come out. My breath hitched and I realized the identity of one of the voices.

"Yes, I have," Dr. Evilini said. "Although they are hardly worth my time. Neither is this job for that matter. I thought you said I could find a power here that was greater than the one from the volcano?"

Even more questions whirred around in my head. Once again, how did any nut job let this woman in? Wasn't it obvious from her name that she was evil? Besides, I haven't seen her around. So, she must be really good at disguises, or she had an inside person. And the mention of the volcano; I remembered how she tried to suck Justin's magic. I shuddered to think of this greater power.

I didn't bother listening to the rest of their conversation. With baited breath, I waited until I could no longer hear their voices or the clacking of Dr. Evilini's heels to run to the common room in cold sweat. With a flick of my wand, I took off the Disillusioned Charm, put on my pyjamas and went to bed. My heartbeat slowed down to a steady beat, and eventually my breathing became even.

It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that I stopped wondering about Evilini and her plans and about that cloaked figure. Yet, I never went to sleep, and spent the night staring at the red curtain that separated me from the rest of the dorm.

That next morning, I got out of bed and headed out to the common room. As I passed by the sofas, I saw Fred and George huddled over well, something I'm sure. I was too sleep deprived to care. Instead, I headed for the armchair in front of the fireplace. Classes didn't start for another hour or so, and there was no point getting ready so early in the morning.

I yawned loudly and rubbed my eyes. Yes, I am totally aware that my eyes are probably disgustingly red with the most hideous eye bags bigger than Gigi's ego, but right then I didn't exactly _care._ The flames in front of me crackled softly and gave off a really comfortable warmth. It was light enough that it wasn't overbearing, but warm enough that I couldn't feel the morning chill. I could hear the twins whispering to each other and the scratching of their quills on parchment.

I yawned again.

"Oi!" One of the twins said and prodded me with his wand.

"Whaddya wan'?" I mumbled, my eyes half closed.

"Quit yawning so loud," one of them answered.

"What's got you so-"

"-Tired anyway?"

"Nonofyadambusiness." I answered drowsily. My eyes closed against my will. Whatever- it's not like I want to deal with either of them right now.

I heard them both sigh. It seemed like only a few minutes later that one of them prodded me again.

"Oi, Wake up."

"Russo, wakey, wakey." They prodded me with their wands even more.

I groaned and brushed them off with my hand. I rubbed my eyes and opened them to the sight of the blasted red-headed twins. Both of them smiled. I groaned. Didn't they realize I was exhausted?

"There you go!" The one to the left exclaimed. His lips were quirked upwards to the right.

"That was easy, wasn't it?" The one to the right asked. He had a small smile on his face as well. In his hands was a mug full of hot, brown liquid.

"Here you go. This should wake you up." The one to the right said as they pushed the mug towards me. I looked at them unbelievably; this was sick.

"Pranking a half-asleep person is really low, guys," I told them as I gazed at them skeptically.

Both of them shook their heads.

"Nah. This is genuine," Right twin said. Both of them held up their available hands.

"Weasley's honour," They announced in synchronization.

I looked between the two of them, who looked back expectantly. Gulping, I shakily took the mug in my hands.

"Uh, thanks, I guess," I said and stared into the creamy brown liquid. A bitter scent slightly rekindled my senses. It was coffee- a strong brew from the looks of it.

"Of course. Got to make sure our victim is wide awake-," Left twin winked.

"-For her special surprise, later." Right twin finished and winked cheekily.

"Great," I remarked sarcastically. I took a sip of the coffee. My eyes blinked rapidly as the burning liquid went down my throat. Although I was unsure if it was the coffee that rejuvenated me or if I was deluding myself somehow, I gave the twins a small smile.

"There you go!" They exclaimed. "Now better get going or else Ally-kins will be late to class."

My left eye twitched at the ridiculous nickname. I have absolutely no idea where that came from, nor do I know why. One day, it happened and it just _stuck._

I groaned then gulped the entire mug of coffee and headed upstairs to get ready. I didn't feel their gazes leave me until I had passed by the second-year dormitories.

"Alex, wake up!" Someone shook my shoulder. I tried to guess who they were based on their voice, but I was pretty bad at that sort of stuff.

"Come on, we're going to be late!" Another person whined, their voice was farther away.

"Ugh. Just leave her be! I'm going to go down before the food's gone." The thundering of footsteps could be heard before the sound of a door slamming boomed throughout the dorm.

The first person sighed. "Lavender's too impatient." A moment of silence passed between the people in the dorm. "Although, Alex really should wake up."

"Well, she's already in her uniform," The second person trailed off and I felt her eyes linger on me.

Someone nudged my shoulder again. I groaned. Could they stop?

"She's up! She's up!" The first person exclaimed.

"Brilliant. Now tell her to hurry up before she's late for Professor McGonagall's class." I heard the door slam close again.

I rolled onto my back and sat up. I rubbed my groggy eyes and stared at the person in front of me. She had brown eyes and a messy bun where se had stuck her wand in. At the sight of her, I smiled.

"Morning, Parvati," I greeted. My throat was scratchy and my lips were very dry. I really didn't want to see my bed head.

Parvati's smile turned into a frown. "Well, hello to you too," she huffed. "Now that you're awake, you should get your fixed and head down. Honestly! Your hair looks like a Grinfdylow's nest!"

I winced. It was _that_ bad? "Yeah, I just, like, woke up, so no need to insult me just yet." I stretched as I yawned. Parvati grimaced.

"Sure, whatever. Just hurry up." And with that, Parvati also left the dorm which left me completely alone.

I sat there, blinking the sleepiness out of my eyes. Then, something that one of them said struck me like a bolt of lightning. I freaked out and leaped out of bed and rushed to the washroom.

"Holy shit! I'll be late for McGonagall's class!"

It was in the middle of the day and I was now in the Potions classroom. Beside me was one of the Slytherin students. To my surprise, she didn't care about my Gryffindor status. I learned early on in September that Gryffindor and Slytherin were forever house enemies and that the last people from each house that tried to befriend each other ended in disaster. Then again, I thought as I glanced around the classroom, it could just be that there was nowhere else to sit. I looked beside me to see that the brunette was emotionless, her face betraying no thought of hers.

"Why are you looking at me for?" She snapped, shaking me out of my thoughts. He icy blue eyes glared at me and through me, if that was even possible.

"Just wondering which one of Gigi's crones you are," I spat out. I then realized that my comeback was literally the worst one ever, but her pursed lips was just _so irritating._

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I don't need to be treated like this. You're probably just some _Mudblood_ anyway. I don't know why Dumbledore even bothered with you."

I glared at her. "You've got some nerve, don't you?" I took out my wand and pointed it at her pointed nose. I noticed that she had done the same. "Oh, please," I scoffed. "As if you could do anything to me."

The girl's lips lifted into a smirk. "Really now? As far as I know, you're inexperienced with that wand. I've seen you in Charms. Always using those weird spells. You can't even perform _Alohomara_ correctly."

I glared at her. That wasn't exactly my fault! Besides, I was _working_ on it. I could perform the Disillusioned Charm and most of the first and second-year spells just fine, thanks. I was also working on the other ones too! I even asked Flitwick, Hermione and Justin for help. A burning sensation filled my chest. I was going to get a higher standing, I swore it.

I didn't bother to come up with a response and went straight for the spell. " _Furnun_ \- "

"Would you like to explain what is happening here, Miss Russo?" A deep voice interrupted and a looming shadow fell upon me. The voice sent chills up my spine. Slowly, I looked up at the hooked-nose professor that had caught me in the act. Immediately, the Slytherin girl crumpled into a small ball and started whimpering. I stared at her in shock.

For Pete's sake, this girl was absolutely unbelievable.

"Well, Miss Russo?" Snape asked, his eyebrow arched. I huffed, frustrated. I already knew what was coming. What was the point of trying to make an excuse anyways?

"Nothing professor." I ducked my head once I caught the endless black tunnels that his eyes consisted of. Despite my previous assurances, I still hoped that he wouldn't use the truth spell on me.

"I see," Snape mused. "Nevertheless, Miss Russo. I will not allow any wishy-washy wand waving in my class. Therefore, I will send you to detention with Professor Eupraxia later tonight after dinner. Make sure this does not happen again. Five points from Gryffindor, Miss Russo."

With a swish of his cloak, he turned his attention to the rest of the class. I put my wand back into my boot. The Slytherin girl besides me smirked. Despite my now burning dislike for her, I really couldn't help but relate with her. She was now looking at the front of the class with a smug smirk. I rolled my eyes and mentally gagged at the direction that my thoughts just took. And well, what do you know? I had detention again. Just freaking brilliant.

It was now lunchtime and I was sitting at the Gryffindor table besides Harry and his group. I glanced further down the table at the Weasley Twins. They were currently laughing with their friend. When one of the twins -I wonder if I should learn to tell them apart soon- caught my eye and smirked, I turned away. I immediately stopped eating and checked my surroundings. Ever since that first night, I knew that I could never be too careful. I ignored Hermione's weird looks, but didn't completely dismiss Ron's pitiful look. Poor him, as his brothers, he probably goes through the same thing _all the time._

"They're not going to prank you just yet, Alex," Ron tried reassuring me. Too bad I was unreassurable at this rate. "Just calm down."

I stared at his blue eyes. "Are you sure about that, Ronnie?" I asked him. "Are you sure?"

I looked back at the twins who had long gone back to their conversation. I frowned. With Max in a different house, it was two against one and our pranks were less frequent than theirs. I huffed. It was totally unfair. I ate a mouthful of soup. Maybe….

I took out my wand. If I pranked them now, it would totally catch them off guard, right? I smirked. Maybe I finally got a one-up on them. Directing my wand at the redheads, I whispered, " _Fred doesn't think that cheerleading's cool, make George Weasley a cheerleading fool."_

On cue, George's face twisted into a deranged, cheery expression and he stepped onto the table, stumbling over plates and hands. I spun my wand and muttered another spell. At this point, George now donned a cheerleading outfit that consisted of a tight tank top, a short skirt, and frilly pom-poms. He wasn't saying anything, just performing a routine of twirls and pirouettes and flips that looked really painful. His cheery expression became scarier as he involuntarily winced in pain. Meanwhile, Fred stood up from his seat and attempted to follow the routine as best as he could, while purposefully keeping a direct eye contact with me. I pursed my lips, as I understood his non-verbal message.

They weren't going to let me humiliate them.

George seemed to catch on quickly and went with the flow of the spell. He grimaced less and his cheery expression soon became more natural. I cursed beneath my breath. This was not going as planned.

And, because it wouldn't be a Weasley performance without some Gryffindor house-pride, they chanted rather sloppily:

"G-R-Y-F-F-I-N-D-O-R!

Come on Gryffindooor, let hear you ROAR!

Lions, lions, lioooons, lions,

Let's stand up and start a riot!"

Laughter spread throughout the Great Hall at the ridiculous chant. Even the twinkle in Professor Dumbledore's eyes seemed brighter than usual. The only ones not amused with the situation was me, Professor Umbridge, who was writing notes on a sheet of parchment, and Professor McGonagall, who was already at the Gryffindor table, trying to cast the counter spell with no luck. The twins kept cheering and chanting with such cheerfulness that a few of the Gryffindor students started to chant along. With every student that joined in, the bubble of my frustration and anger grew. This was not going great at all. I waved my wand again and recited the counter-spell,

" _Alright, alright, this is now a bore_

 _Turn George Weasley to what he was before."_

Once I finished my spell, George's cheerleading outfit shimmered back to his school robes and his limbs stopped moving on his own. As soon as Fred noticed, he stopped as well and bowed to the crowd. A sound of applause resounded throughout the Hall-I swore I heard Dumbledore' soft claps- as Professor McGonagall yanked them both to the floor and added another night of detention into their ever-increasing amount. The plates they had stepped on were immediately replaced with clean ones. It was kind of pointless though, lunch was almost over.

I glanced at the Trio besides me. Harry was looking at me with wide astonished eyes. Ron seemed amused, while Hermione seemed in between disapproval and amusement. To be honest, I could never tell with that girl.

As I was about to take another spoonful of soup, I felt an unpleasant tug in my stomach. The next thing I knew, I was flying up in the air at a very fast speed. Wind rushed through my entire being uncomfortably. Panic surged throughout my entire being as I flailed my limbs around. Hyperventilating, I tried to control my nonexistent sense of direction, only to narrowly miss crashing into the large windows. I sped around for what felt like hours. I vaguely saw a crowd gathering beneath and a black and yellow blur speeding past me. Later on, I realized that Max had been involved as well. I groaned mentally, sure if I did so out loud, my neck would snap. My heartbeat beat at superhuman levels and oh god, I almost bumped into the ceiling. The spell didn't slow down, so when it eventually did stop, after what I was sure was an eternity later, I dropped directly to the ground. Max and I were lucky that Professor Sprout and Professor McGonagall had cast a Cushioning Charm below us.

I breathed in and out heavily. My body felt like I had just ran an entire marathon. I was all for fainting right there. But, of course, life hates me, so it never happened and I was helped up by a lanky set of arms. Once I spotted ginger hair, I groaned.

"I will kill you," I muttered under my breath.

One of them-George, maybe- laughed. "Sure you will."

"Just watch me," I retorted. "What did you do anyway?" I asked as George-or Fred- helped me back to my seat.

"That? That was automatic. It would have happened any time you pulled a prank." He answered and chuckled. My mouth hang open. They did not… I looked at his face. They did! And I trusted them!

"The coffee!" I exclaimed, once I regained my senses. I was fuming, pretty sure my face was as red as their hair. I can't believe that they- Weasley's honour, my ass!

Fred arrived and sat on the other side of me. "Bingo! Someone give the girl a prize!" He grinned, as I glared at them intensely.

Then I groaned and placed my head on the table. Screw it, I was too exhausted. "I really hate you," I muttered.

"We love you too," the twins recited in unison.

By this time, lunch already ended. Professor McGonagall came up to me and told me to go up to the Hospital Wing to check for any injuries with Max. I sighed in resignation. Well, I guess I could always ask other people for notes later. Tiredly, I trudged through the excited students up to the Hospital Wing. I was still kind of tired for earlier too. I wonder if Madame Pomphrey would let me sleep if I asked her. This day was just getting worse. I didn't even want to think about the detention later. Oh well.

I entered the Potions classroom casually, more refreshed than before. When I went to the Hospital Wing, I promptly collapsed onto a bed. Thus, I had permission to skip the rest of classes (I just had to get the notes later, I guess). It was only too bad that I couldn't sleep through detention as well. I sighed. Whatever. I have never met Professor Eupraxia, but their name was kinda fairy-like and fairies were good, right? In any case, they would be better than Snape. I entered the room to find it empty so I sat in their desk and waited for her. Maybe, if the teacher took long enough, I could just ditch.

Unfortunately, just as the plan entered my head, the door opened to reveal a woman dressed in simple, light blue robes. She had kind, brown eyes and a head full of cornrows. Her laughter lines were prominent, and I hoped she seemed as kind as she looked. She took one look at me and smiled.

"Hello. You must be Miss Russo," she said. Her voice sounded familiar, but I shrugged it off. Maybe I heard her talking at some point during meals or something.

"Now, for your punishment. I've been told that you have been using magic inappropriately. I rather think that cleaning the classroom the mor-er, the Muggle way, would suffice, no?"

I stared blankly at the lady. Then I stared at the classroom. Then I realized something. It was twice as big as my high school classrooms! Not to mention, since the classroom was in the basement and a Potions classroom, it was dank with many spills from various Potions made throughout the year! I stared back at the lady, who was obviously crazy. She just responded,

"Time's a-ticking, Alex Russo. I am not beyond keeping you here until the classroom sparkles. I hear that your rest at the Hospital Wing has refreshed you."

Professor Eupraxia then laughed maniacally. I frowned. This lady was actually crazy. How was I going to make this entire classroom "sparkle" in just one night? And _without_ magic? Ugh. Whatever. Leaving her to her own devices, I went to the broom closet in the corner to get the cleaning supplies. This was going to be a real drag, wasn't it?

I groaned as my sore hands scrubbed the wooden closet that kept the extra cloaks and robes that Snape kept for students to wear when we burned ours. I rolled my eyes. Like he ever let us. Satisfied with the cleanliness of the exterior, I was about to open it, when Professor Eupraxia stopped me.

"No, no, Miss Russo. There really is no need for you to clean the inside. Perhaps you should move on to the desks?"

Groggy and thankful, I walked over to the last row of desks and half-heartedly cleaned the surface. See, if I was using magic, this classroom would've been clean ages ago. What a shame that whenever I tried to take out my wand, she tutted. The last time I tried, she glued my hand to the towel. I had spent half the time cleaning the floor fuming and muttering curses under my breath.

What was the point of this anyways? Forget fairy-like, Eupraxia sounded like a demon name to me now. A demon that had been sent here just to torture me. Throughout the entirety of my detention, she sat smugly in Snape's desk organizing papers here and there. Sometimes, she walked over to where I was and leaned over my shoulder and just stood there. God, she was annoying. I should just dash and run. I sighed. Whatever. Maybe Fred and George were having detentions as horrible as this one. Anyways, I told myself, on to the next desk.

After many, many desks and hours wishing for the Hospital Wing, I finally finished. I felt like collapsing again and just slipping into a coma. Now that I was done, I cleaned out the bucket and the rest of the towels and went up to Eupraxia.

"Professor? I'm done now. Can you unstick the towel now?" I asked, half-heartedly waving my hand.

The said professor looked up from her work, brown inquisitive eyes scanning the classroom before her. Unexpectedly, she smiled.

"Well I suppose that will do Miss Russo." She took out a blue wand and tapped my hand with it. Once the towel was separated, it vanished.

"Thanks, Miss," I said, flexing my hand.

She smiled. "Please refer to me as Professor, Miss Russo." She collected her papers and stood up. "Now, hop off to bed! You've a heavy day tomorrow! I've seen that Professor Snape has quite the lesson for you."

At the mention of Snape, I scoffed. He was the reason I was here in the first place. Well, him and that Slytherin girl. I didn't even want to think of them, they would cause me an even bigger headache. Thus, without much complaint, I headed off to Gryffindor Tower. Honestly, at this point, detention would just ruin my standing in the competition.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Wizard of Waverly Place belongs to Disney. Thanks to anyone who reads this, reviewed, favourited or/and followed. :)**

 **Warning: Few swears spread throughout the story…mostly from Alex…yeah…**

 **:NON-CANON COMPLIANT. Some of the events will be mixed up because it's hard to keep track of minor events and stuff like that concerning the Golden Trio, although a bit of the beginning dialogue when they're in the Hog's head** _ **is**_ **from** _ **The Order of the Phoenix.**_

* * *

I started the day with a shirt thrown at my face.

Sputtering and pulling away the offending piece of clothing, I looked up and regained my senses. In the room, Parvati and Lavender were scrambling around, throwing clothes everywhere while somehow brushing their hair. I groaned. Just looking at them made me feel so tired.

"What's with the hurry?" I asked groggily.

"There's a Hogsmeade trip today!" Lavender exclaimed. She didn't even bother to glance at me before throwing a purple pair of pants towards me. "Whoops, sorry!"

I groaned again before throwing the pants into an ever-growing pile of clothes in the middle of the room.

"A Hogsmeade trip?"

Parvati -bless her, really- forced a smile. "It's a trip to the only all-magical city in Britain. How do you not know by now? It's our third one." She said it in the kind of voice where she expected me to already know this stuff and that I should stop asking her about it.

Oh. Was that it? I feel like I slept through those days.

I raised my eyebrow. "That's cool. Maybe I should go too."

It was then that Hermione came through the washroom door, dressed in a jumper and jeans, and her hair in a towel.

"Do you have your permission slip with you then, Alex?" she asked, and headed over to her bed, and started drying your hair.

I stifled a laugh. "Permission slips. As if those would stop me."

I stood up and went over to my trunk and waved my wand around. Clothes started to lift themselves up, and tried to coordinate into fashionable outfits. I flicked my wand and one of the outfits came up in front of me. It was decent, but in that colour? Hmm…, not worth it.

I could feel Hermione's disapproving stare behind me.

"Alex," she started. "You really shouldn't go without a permission slip. It's against the school rules, and I doubt Umbridge would let you off easy if she caught you."

I had just flicked another outfit to the side, and looked at her. Right, the pink menace. She was making life hell for all of us. High Inquisitor, my ass. She was more like a dictator. Alongside the torturous detentions, she didn't teach properly (and I couldn't afford to slack off, dang it), and she spent whatever free time she had breathing down everyone's necks. Ugh.

With a pout, I flicked my wand to the side, discarding another outfit. "I mean, I could always turn invisible and sneak out."

I'm pretty sure Hermione rolled her eyes. "Do you really want to get into trouble, Alex?"

See, that answer would usually receive a grunt indicating my apathy. Then I realized what got me into this situation in the first place. I flicked my wand down and all my outfits returned to my trunk. With a grunt, I flopped onto my bed.

Ugh. Hogsmeade actually sounded interesting.

"I'm sure you can do other stuff around here, Alex." Lavender said. I turned onto my back and sat up. She had finally finished dressing up into a cute, pink dress, the sleeves hanging off her shoulders.

I hummed.

"You could go to the Quidditch Pitch, or practice some spells or something." Parvati added. She was on the ground rummaging through her clothes. I looked in slight amazement. Where did she keep all of _that_?

"Yeah, I guess so." I said. I felt kind of disappointed. Hogsmeade was somewhere new. Watching Lavender and Parvati, even Hermione, titter around made me feel like they were doing the thing rude people do where they plan things in front of you, but they _don't_ invite you. There was a sinking sensation in my chest.

Hermione looked at me sympathetically. "Maybe another time," she said before leaving the room. I watched her leave. Parvati was now in the washroom and Lavender was preparing to leave as well. I stretched and sat up, putting on a random sweater and jeans. I then grabbed my sketchbook and pencil. Let's see if I can add another castle to my world. I let the door slam on my way out.

I never got to add a castle to my sketchbook. After leaving the Gryffindor dormitory, I headed to the Owlery to mail letters back home. It had been a long time since I've seen them and, dare I say it, I missed them. Thus, I was heading to the Owlery when I saw Max at the grounds near the Pitch. He was wandering around by himself – his friends all at Hogsmeade, no doubt- and waving his wand. I heard him mutter a few incantations.

"Max!" I shouted, and waved him over.

He grinned and came over, loosening his hold on his wand. "Hey Alex."

"What were you doing?" I asked. It's a surprise, but during my time here, I found that I could get along with Max. It must have been planning those pranks that did the trick.

"Just practicing," he said with a shrug. "Just watch, I'll become the Family Wizard and you and Justin will be stuck working at the Sub Station."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "As if I would give you the chance to get ahead of me."

"Well, Alex," he straightened his posture. "I'm almost one of the top students in Charms right now." He finished his statement with a wide, toothy grin.

I laughed. I wasn't trying to be mean (this time, anyway), but it wasn't exactly secret that Max wasn't smart, or academically inclined. I hunched over and held my sides as Max pouted and stomped his foot.

"It's true!" he shouted indignantly. "That crazy wizard in the wand shop was right! I actually am good at Charms. I just have to mess around with it first. Even Flitwick said so!"

I gradually straightened myself, a few chuckles escaping from me. "Seriously? _Flitwick_ said so?" I asked.

Max nodded. "Yeah. I do the spells, he sees if I'm doing it right, and gives me points if I do! He's the best teacher I've ever had!"

I scoffed. "Sounds like he's just being _nice_." I countered. Pardon my disbelief, but not even Tutor could help him with his spells. I wasn't believing it.

Max pouted. "I'll prove it to you."

"How?"

"I bet you that I can go into Hogsmeade and come back without anyone knowing I was ever there."

My eyebrow rose. "But how are you going to do that if _I_ know you were there?"

He rolled his eyes. "Everyone, _but_ you."

"Alright. But let's make this even better. You and I have to go follow 'The Golden Trio', play a few tricks on them and each other without getting caught."

"The Golden Trio?" He scratched his head and squinted his eyes.

"Harry, Ron, and Hermione."

He nodded. "Okay. When I win, you have to do my essays for Potions."

"Well, you'll have to go to all the detentions I get in the future."

He stiffened. "Even Umbridge's?"

I paused. Umbridge was a real nut job, and no sane person would ever want to cross her. But, it's not like I was _planning_ on getting detention from her anytime soon.

" _All_ detentions, Max." I cocked my eyebrow. "Unless, you're _scared_?"

He frowned and gripped his wand tightly. "Okay then. I'm going to prove you wrong."

I smirked, and cast a Disillusionment charm on myself. "Are you ready to go to Hogsmeade, brother?" To anyone else, my voice would have come from nowhere, and would probably have freaked.

Max only cast a charm in reply.

Once Max set off the charm, we walked in separate directions, determined to follow through with the Golden Trio. I have no idea about Max, but this invisibility thing was hard. On my way to Hogsmeade, I had bumped into the few people, and other objects in my path. At one point, I had walked through a ghost, and was frozen for a few minutes, feeling like someone stuffed me with ice cubes. Ugh, not fun.

Fortunately, I made it, and I was now walking through Hogsmeade, looking for bushy hair or red heads. On my way, the pretty scenery almost distracted me. Hogsmeade was such a typical autumn aesthetic. The store windows glinted in the sunlight and student chatter filled the air. As I passed by a bar, the Three Broomsticks, the smell of roasted poultry and the sweet smell of soda wafted through my nose; warmth seemed to emanate from the building. And there was another station, full of bright coloured candies and were as small as a marble, or as big as I was. The candy called out to me, wanting to be eaten. Fortunately, I found Hermione's bushy hair in the crowd and proceeded to follow them.

I could hear them whispering, but I couldn't get close enough to hear properly. Unless I wanted to bump into them or something. Somewhere, to my right, I heard Max groan in exasperation. I smirked, and inched closer, swerving to avoid the people walking in front of me. Slipping my wand from my sleeve, I pointed it at myself, and muttered a spell,

 _"Atravesandus."_

Smirking, I strolled through the crowd and ran through Harry. He jolted and nearly knocked Ron off his feet. With wild eyes, he scanned his surroundings, his breathing becoming more frantic by the second.

"Wha-What the hell?" he yelped. I stifled a laugh. His hair was more ruffled now, as he furrowed his eyebrows and looked for a culprit.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Ron and Hermione asked simultaneously. Ron had balanced himself, and Hermione scanned the road with beady eyes. Harry was still shocked, and at this point, I wondered if maybe Harry was the wrong person to prank. He seemed more traumatized than anything.

"Y-you don't think it could be You-Know-Who, do you?" Ron asked, a slight whimper to his voice.

"I-I don't know. This hasn't happened before," Harry clutched his robes tighter around him. I bit my lip. You-Know-Who? That was the wizard terrorizing Europe, wasn't it? I gulped. How had my prank been mistaken for that?"

"Don't worry, Harry, it's not." Hermione said, scrutinizing the snowy ground. "Look, here, there's footsteps. It was probably just somebody playing a prank. A stupid one, mind you."

"But, they went _through_ me." Harry protested. He looked slightly calmer now, which eased my nerves. Note to self: no more going through people.

"There's probably a potion or a spell for that- it's fine. We should get going anyways." Hermione said, and tightened her scarf.

Ron nodded. "Yeah, chances are it's just my brothers again." He patted Harry's back. "You'll be fine, mate."

He nodded. "Okay, yeah. You guys are right. Thanks." He was completely calm now, and colour had returned to his cheeks. Before they could pass me, I dove out of their way, not wanting a repeat of what happened. I watched as they walked away. My eyes widened at the Trio's new additions: each had a different animal tail. Ron had a dog tail, Harry a little dear tail, and Hermione had a sleek otter's tail. I stifled another laugh. Okay, even I had to admit that Max got them good. Other students had taken notice of the Trio as well, as they walked down the street.

Not wanting to lose sight of them, I followed.

As they continued to walk through Hogsmeade, the village became sparse, and the buildings turned rickety, reminiscence of the Leaky Cauldron. They turned right on a street, and soon entered a small, dingy bar, that reeked of more alcohol than the clubs in New York. I wrinkled my nose. What were these three doing here? Sighing, I followed them still.

Upon entering the door, the smell of goat hit me. I grimaced. Talk about unsanitary. The place was empty, the only people there was the bartender and his cloaked customers. I gulped and shied away from them. The trio ordered their Butterbeers and sat at a table furthest from the entrance.

"I don't know about this, Hermione. Hasn't it occurred to you, that Umbridge might be under that cloak?" Harry asked, taking a small sip from his mug.

Hermione glanced over at one of the women who sat at the far end of the bad. I snuck in for a closer look. Nope, definitely not the toad.

"Umbridge is shorter than that," Hermione said. "Besides, I've checked the school rules. There is nothing there that says we can't come here, and have a meeting. We're not out of bounds. I've looked up everything I know about study groups or homework groups. They're definitely allowed. I just don't think it's a good idea to _parade_ what we're doing."

"Yeah, considering that it's not exactly a homework group that you're planning is it?" Harry asked, shooting her an accusatory stare. I perked up at that and smirked. What were they up to?

I slid into a chair next to them as silently as I could. Interesting or not, I wasn't going to take Max's detentions for him. Striking my wand, a bit in Ron's direction, I muttered a heating spell.

"Ah!" Ron yelped and fumbled with the mug, a few drops landing on him and Hermione.

"Ronald!"

"Sorry! It felt hot for a moment, there!"

"Shh, you two," Harry said, and glanced around. I let out a breathy laugh. None of the other occupants in the room took notice. I heard a creak besides me, and the dust on the table moved. I smirked.

"So," Harry said, regaining his composure, "Who did you say was meeting us here?"

Hermione didn't meet his eyes. "Just a couple of people."

It was that moment, that the door opened, and a wave of students flowed forth, and filled the dingy space. My eyes widened. That, that was not a couple of people. Harry seemed to share my sentiment.

"Hermione!" he hissed at her. "A couple of people?"

Ron stepped forward. "Hey, mate. It's not her fault there's a lot of people that want to pass the toad's class."

"Besides, Harry, the idea really was popular." She interjected. Then, she stood up, dragging Harry and Ron with her to the front. She turned to face the crowd, fumbling her hands. They waited for everyone to get a Butterbeer- twenty-five in total- from the shell-shocked bartender. Once they were handed out, and greetings were exchanged, Hermione took the lead.

"Er, well, hi," she stammered, waving awkwardly to the crowd. "You must be wondering why we're here. Let's get started, shall we?"

By the end of her introduction, I had released my transformation, and hid myself within the crowd of students by sitting on the floor. A slow smile formed on my face. This ought to be good.

* * *

 **A/N: I was going to continue, but this is already seven pages. O.O And to think, yesterday, I couldn't find any motivation to write this at all.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Wizard of Waverly Place belongs to Disney** [at1] **. Thanks to anyone who reads this, reviewed, favourited or/and followed. :)**

 **HAPPY NEW YEAR! Let's hope I update more.**

 **Warning: Few swears spread throughout the story…mostly from Alex…yeah…**

 **:NON-CANON COMPLIANT. Some of the events will be mixed up because it's hard to keep track of minor events and stuff like that concerning the Golden Trio. Most of Hermione speech and canon dialogue is only slightly tweaked from the original, so disclaimer on that.**

"So, um, we're gathered here today because we," she gestured to Harry and her. Harry raised an eyebrow. "Okay, well _I_ thought that it'd be better for people who want to study Defence Against the Dark Arts- and _actually_ study it, not the rubbish that toad wants us to learn, because, that's not really Defence Against the Dark Arts, is it?"

Scattered applause sounded when she paused. I smirked, connecting the dots. Hermione wetted her lips and nodded.

"So, well, I thought that, we should take matters into our own hands."

She paused, her wide eyes glancing at everyone in the room. I ducked behind another student's cloak. It didn't work. She opened her mouth, and closed it again, before addressing the crowd.

"I guess what I mean is, that, we should learn how to properly defend ourselves. With _real_ spells, not just in theory from that bloody textbook-"

"Guess you _really_ want to pass your O.W.L.S. this year, Hermione." A boy with dark hair piped up. I bit my lip. Well who wouldn't?

"Of course I do," she replied. "But, it isn't just that. I want to learn defensive spells because, well because," Hermione took a deep breath. "Well, because, Voldemort is back."

At her statement, an uproar erupted from the students. One student at the front had fainted. A few had shrieked and yelped. I gulped. I didn't even know what to think about that. Harry had claimed this, multiple times in front of Umbridge, and even got detention from it. Even on the train, I could vaguely remember the Trio's stories about You-Know-Who and Harry's lightning scar. But, how bad is it that Hermione- proper goody-two shoes Hermione- was willing to face Umbridge's wrath?

All heads had turned to Harry, who looked back stone-faced.

A blond boy wearing a black and yellow scarf exclaimed, "What makes you think You-Know-Who is back? The only person who's actually seen him is _him_ ," he pointed at Harry, whose lips thinned into a straight line, "and you've seen the Prophet, claiming he's mad!"

"Well, if Dumbledore believes it-,"Hermione started, only to be cut off again.

"You mean, Dumbledore believes _Potter_ -,"

"Oi, who are you?" Ron interrupted him rudely.

"Zacharias Smith," he said. "And, I think we have the right to know why he thinks You-Know-Who's back!"

Before Hermione or Ron could retort, Harry stood up. He nodded at them, before facing the crowd. I shuffled closer to the front, my rapt attention on him. I gulped, my hands shaking, whether with excitement or fear, I couldn't tell. I never imagined involving myself with this kind of stuff. Did I really want to hear this? I glanced back behind me, seeing that the dust on the back table swirled around. Max was listening too. I turned back to Harry, inhaling deeply. If I could deal with Gorog, and wishes that took my parents away, I could deal with _this._

"What makes me say that You-Know-Who's back?" Harry asked. He looked grimmer than I had ever seen him. "I saw him. Last year. But Dumbledore already told all, if not, most of you this. So if you don't want to believe him, I'm not going to waste Hermione's efforts by spending all afternoon explaining."

The same boy, Zacharias piped up again. "All Dumbledore told us was that Diggory had been killed by You-Know-Who. He didn't give us details, and I reckon that we'd all like to know-,"

"I'm not going to talk about Diggory." Harry turned to the right side of the room, where a girl with a blue and bronze scarf sat. "I'm not going to talk about how Voldemort murders innocent people. If that's what you're hear for, you might as well leave and forget this ever happened."

My breath hitched at what Harry had said. A student had _died_? That was insane! I released a shaky breath. Did Dad not question anything when he sent us here? I fumbled for my wand and gripped it tightly. Harry's eyes were furrowed, his green eyes glinting murderously. He glared at Hermione, who fidgeted nervously.

I wondered if he was regretting this entirely.

Hermione stepped forward again. "So, if you, um, still want to learn Defence, then we need to plan out some things. Like when we're going to meet, and how often we're going to do it, and-,"

Hermione was interrupted again when a girl with a long plait spoke up, "Is it true that you can do a Patronus?"

Suddenly looking uncomfortable, Harry said, "Yes."

The group broke out into murmurs at his response. All of them looked quite excited now. I bit my lip, tempted to ask what a Patronus was, before remembering that I wasn't supposed to be seen. I added it to the list of things I needed to study up on.

Despite my confusion at the uniqueness of this Patronus, it started a riled-up discussion with Harry and the crowd. Soon, Harry was answering questions about basilisks (whatever that was), a Philosopher's Stone, dragons, and a Triwizard Tournament, and loads of other stuff that sounded like Harry's achievements. I stared at him in newfound wonder. How was this boy not dead? It took a while before their excitement cooled down enough that Hermione could step in again.

"So, we agree, that Harry should give us lessons?"

There was a murmur of agreement. I was surprised that not one student had a complain about this. I was even more surprised when I realized I was agreeing with them. While the rest of them planned the schedules for the club, I glanced at the back table again. Max had drawn a question mark on the wall beside him. I nodded, and gave a determined stare in his general direction. The question mark was being erased, and Max had written 'OK' in its place.

Gulping, I slid further into view, and gave a friendly wave at the Trio. Their eyes widened, and they stared at each other, then back at me. Ron gave an awkward smile back. Harry's eyebrow rose, and Hermione turned back to the crowd.

"I think everyone," it was then that Hermione glanced at me, "should sign their name, so we know who was here." Another glance at me. I sighed. Thanks, Hermione. "And we ought to agree that no one here can tell Umbridge or anybody else what we're doing here."

Another murmur of agreement spread throughout the crowd. The parchment and quill that Hermione held was being passed on to one of the students at the front. Soon, most of the students had signed their names. When it was passed to the student next to me, I tugged their cloak. The student, who was a girl with a bob cut, widened her eyes at the sight of me. She hesitantly handed the parchment, and I signed my name with a flourish.

I felt a tug on my cloak. Sitting beside me was Max, who had released his transformation. "I'm going to sign too," he said.

Shrugging, I passed it on to him. He took the quill and signed it as if he were royalty. He then passed it to the student sitting on the chair to his right. When he was finished, he smirked at me.

"I won."

I scoffed at him. "By default. If this wasn't so interesting, I could've gone on for longer."

"Yeah, okay Alex. I believe you," he said, squinting his eyes at me.

I pouted. No, he didn't.

When everyone in the room had signed, the parchment was returned to Hermione, who rolled it neatly and slipped it into her bag. As soon as she did that, people left one by one, led by the Weasley Twins. Max and I stood up as well, and were about to leave when Hermione stopped us.

"Alex, Max," she called out to us. We faced her. "How did you two get in here without any of us noticing you?"

Max and I glanced at each other and back at her. "Well," I said, "there were a lot of people."

"Yeah," Max added. "Maybe you just missed us."

Hermione's eyebrow rose. "But you were sitting on the floor. And Max, I didn't even know you were here until I saw your name on the list."

I chuckled. "Look, this is going to sound _really_ weird and _really_ awkward, but I swear it wasn't-,"

Ron interrupted me. "You're not spying for Umbridge, are you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not. Do I look like I like the toad?"

"It's still suspicious how you appeared out of nowhere, though," Harry said.

"Look, it's really not like that." I said, holding my hands out, trying to calm them. "Besides, we signed your list, right? The one where, if we signed, we promised we wouldn't tell anyone?"

They looked like they still wanted to question us, but they couldn't find an argument. What I said _was_ true. And if I told Umbridge about them, I'd be putting myself in trouble also.

"Well, we'll believe you for now," he said, frowning.

"But you really shouldn't sneak around like this." Hermione reprimanded. "People will think you're up to no good."

"Like creating a club that Umbridge wouldn't like?" Max asked.

"Look mates," Ron said. "We're just warning you."

"Ron's right," Hermione said. "And I warned you against coming to Hogsmeade this morning, didn't I, Alex? What if you had been caught?"

"Don't worry about us, Hermione," I said, taking my wand out. Max mimicked me.

"We have our ways of getting around." Max added.

We both cast the Disillusionment Charm on ourselves. I walked out, but not before I could hear them muttering amongst themselves. I swore I could hear Harry ask, "Are we sure that we can trust them?"

A few days later, I walked into the Common Room, and was stopped by Harry and Ron.

"You!" Ron yelled, pointing his wand at me. I unsheathed my wand from my boot and returned the favour.

"You went to that toad, didn't you?" he hissed. Harry was at his side, also holding onto his wand.

"What makes you think I'd tell her _anything_?" I asked.

"That!" Harry pointed at the notice board. On it, was a huge plaque that took up almost all of the space. All of the previous notices underneath were squashed. I swore. Umbridge's Decrees were never a good thing. I stomped in front of it and read.

Basically, Umbridge wanted to approve all clubs otherwise, they were all disbanded.

"Oh please!" I scoffed, and turned back at Harry and Ron. "What makes you think I want this?"

"Oh, I don't know." Ron said. "Maybe it'll help you in that nutter Wizard's Competition of yours?"

I snorted. Before I could reply, a snobby voice piped up. "And _what_ is going on here?"

We turned around to see Hermione climbing down the steps of the girls' dormitories.

"Look at this, Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. "Alex ratted us out!"

She blinked in confusion and stared at me. Then, she scurried to my side and analysed the new Decree. She sighed in relief.

"Are you mad?" Ron asked. "She just outed us!"

"Oh, don't be silly, Ronald." Hermione said, unusually calm, in my opinion. "If Alex had done it, we'd all know by now."

"But we _do_ ," Harry said exasperatedly.

"Well, I can assure you she didn't." Hermione said. Then she lowered her voice, "I put a jinx on the parchment we signed. Trust me, if Alex _had_ told, she'd look worse than she did when the Twins gave her boils."

I groaned. Did she _have_ to remind me of that? In other news, Harry and Ron _still_ didn't look convinced.

"Are you sure about that?" Ron asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course, I am. Besides, if Alex was planning to, she wouldn't now."

Slightly annoyed, I raised my eyebrow. "And how would you know _that_?" I asked stubbornly.

"Well, Alex, everyone who had seen you that day knows how much you tried to drown yourself." Hermione said matter-of-factly. "So, it's not that wild a guess you wouldn't now you know what my jinx does."

I nodded slowly, squinting my eyes at her. "Touché, Granger, touché."

I exhaled, and slipped my wand back in my boot. "Well, hopefully that convinced you, that I have no intention of being a toad's pet." I said, and shrugged sarcastically. "Now, I'll be off stuffing my face." With that, I left the Trio to their own devices. I climbed out of the Gryffindor entranceway and headed for the Great Hall.

As long as I knew that I was trustworthy, what did their opinions really matter?

Unfortunately, as soon as I entered the Great Hall, I heard Max yell, "She did it, Professor! She put the charm there!"

I blinked my eyes, confused. Max ran towards me, a strange creature wearing salmon pink robes on his tail. The creature had a Cucuy's face- a gray skull-like mask, with black markings on its nose and around its yellow bulging eyes. Dark, leathery, bat-like wings sprung from its back, and the rest of the body was covered in a layer of brown eagle feathers.

When Max had yelled, it turned its attention on me. It screeched, "Russo, turn me back!"

Panicking and trying to glare at Max at the same time, I took my wand out of my boot and chanted, " _No one wants this show to have an encore; bring her back to what it was before._ "

There was a flash of light. When it dissipated, Umbridge laid on the ground. Hissing, she stood back up and walked towards me slowly, a sickly, sweet smile stretched upon her lips.

"Miss Russo," she said, clasping her hands together. "I have put up all term with your silly pranks and tricks." She frowned. "It seems, I'll have to create a new Decree, to stop this foolishness." She kept walking towards me, until I had to lean back to avoid her getting to close. She smelled of strong perfume that smelled distinctly of old lady.

"But for now, I think detention from twenty-one o'clock until midnight; every Friday until the holidays will suffice. If you are not there, Miss Russo, I will make you regret stepping a foot into this school."

She walked away. I didn't relax, until I couldn't hear the click-clack of her heels. I exhaled angrily through my nose. I let out a screech that further scared all the students around me. Gripping my wand tighter, I twirled it around myself and chanted, " _From my head to toes; take me to wherever Max goes._ "

Feeling the trail of magic run down my spine, I closed my eyes and waited for the flash of light to disappear. When it did, I opened my eyes. I was still stuck at the entrance of the Great Hall. My jaw dropped. This had to be a joke, right? It's not like I was teleporting. I groaned and left. Outside, I pointed my wand at the first portrait I saw. Before the enchanted painting could complain, I chanted, " _Please, please, tell me now. Is there something I should know? Deranium, deranium._ "

Instantly, the portrait of the old man shifted into an outdoor scene. It showed me the clearing outside of the Forbidden Forest. I could see the greenhouses for Herbology, and a figure that lurked in the shadows of the pine trees. I scrunched my nose. There's no way Max went all the way out there. The scene continued to play, and the figure came closer to the clearing, and snuck his way to behind the nearest greenhouse. I gasped. That, that was Mason. I frowned. Why was he here? I swished my wand, and returned the portrait back to normal. I ignored the portraits, sniffing and rude gesture.

The spell didn't show me Max. but right now, I was more curious about Mason's appearance. I walked out of the castle, and hurried my way to the greenhouses. I guess it was lucky for me that everyone was still eating breakfast. When I reached the greenhouses, I sped up to the greenhouse nearest to the Forbidden Forest. It was Greenhouse number 5-one of the greenhouses with the most dangerous plants, apparently. I slowed down my approach, hoping that Mason was still there. I gulped.

Taking a risk, I yelled, "Mason!"

I heard a grunt, and then a gasp. "Alex, is that you?!"

I walked to the back of the greenhouse. There, Mason was, leaning against the glass walls of the greenhouse. When he saw me, his eyes widened.

"What are _you_ doing here?" We asked at the same time.

Confused, I shook my head. "I'm a transfer student here. Why are _you_ here?"

Mason looked as equally confused as I was (although he was a bit cuter, I'll admit). "I've been sent here by my pack as a representative. I've only just got away."

I shook my head again. "If you were chosen as the representative, why did you have to run away? _Where_ did you even come from?"

"They're bonkers, Alex. The other werewolves. You should've seen them." He paled, his brown eyes widening. He shivered, and I could hear his snarl. "One of them, the more decent ones, helped me get away. But, they'll catch me soon. I can't stay long."

My mind was bursting with questions. I stuttered, trying to pick one. "W-wait, I don't understand." I crouched down next to him. "Why were you, wherever you were, in the first place?"

Mason stared at me. His shoulders sagged, and from what I could see, his neck was bruised. "I can't tell you that, Alex. I've been there since the end of July, and trust me, you don't want to know."

I bit my lip. I thought back to the club meeting a few days ago. Maybe it was because of…

"Mason," I said gently. "Did it have anything to do with this Voldemort guy?"

Mason froze. His eyes widened again in fear. "Ho-How do you know, who that is?"

I frowned. "He's been everywhere in the news. People are talking about him. Some say he's alive, but most people think he's gone."

Mason growled. He stared at his hand. He opened and closed them, as if he had claws on them. "Forget this ever happened, Alex. Just forget it."

"Where are you going to go next?" I asked. He didn't even look like he could move anywhere at the moment. How was he going to last another few hours of travel-much less a few days?

"Just as far away as I can." Mason stared at me. Gently, he cupped my face with both hands. "Don't tell anyone I've been here. Things are bad, Alex."

"But-?"

I couldn't finish my question. Mason had growled and pushed himself away. His face had morphed halfway, tufts of fur framing it. He was furious.

"If you have to ask anyone, Alex." He bit down a snarl. "Ask your parents."

Before I could utter a sound, Mason's face morphed so that his features flattened. His eyes shrunk, and he was growling uncontrollably. I gulped. I understood his message. Getting up, I left as fast as I could, wishing, not for the first time, that teleportation was allowed at Hogwarts.

That night, I sent a letter home to my family, asking how they were doing. Asking, the current news of the American magical world.

That same night, images of Mason, and the Defense Club, and hybrid Umbridge haunted my dreams.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** **Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Wizard of Waverly Place belongs to Disney. Thanks to anyone who reads this, reviewed, favourited or/and followed. :)**

 **Warning: Few swears spread throughout the story.**

 **:NON-CANON COMPLIANT. Some of the events will be mixed up because it's hard to keep track of minor events and stuff like that concerning the Golden Trio.**

 **This chapter is Justin-centric with a bit of Alex's POV at the end, but still totally relevant, I promise.**

 **Also owl-service is straight-up confusing. Like how do they find all these people they're delivering to?**

* * *

 **Third POV**

Justin set down his mounting pile of textbooks on the library table, with a copy of the Daily Prophet on the top. It featured a smiling Dolores Umbridge at the front, her beady eyes staring straight at the camera, or Justin suspected, the readers themselves. It was mostly about the new Educational Decrees that had been set at Hogwarts, and Justin wasn't ashamed to say, that he followed every single one. Others, such as Alex and Max, may come to disagree with that, and even he had to admit some decrees were ridiculous (as reading material from wizard authors and limiting library and common room use), but they were generally the same rules he had endured during Tribeca Prep- just more enforced.

Besides, he was preoccupied with other matters at the moment.

He sat down, and took out a sheet of parchment and quill, along with his Ancient Runes textbook. He pored over the symbols and their translations, trying to commit it all to memory. Unfortunately, Justin's brain wasn't in the mood. That had become a new normal for him, surprisingly. Ever since Juliet had practically declared herself his _enemy_ , he couldn't concentrate on anything else. He had spent so many days trying to write an essay or an assignment for his classes, only to bury himself in copies of the Daily Prophet and the Quibbler, trying to gain as much information as he could.

He sighed, and pushed away his textbook, and grabbed the news article besides him, hoping it would glean new information that he may have missed.

He re-read it once. Twice. Three times. Four. Yet nothing. It seemed that the journalists of the Prophet had gotten bored with the Potter and Voldemort story, and focused mostly on Umbridge and Cornelius Fudge. He groaned, setting it aside once again, and re-focused on his Ancient Runes assignment.

Justin began muttering to himself, repeating the conversation with Juliet in his mind. She had said something about vampires, and getting rid of the Family Competition, but what bothered him most was the tidbit about Lord Voldemort.

He wasn't an idiot. He _knew_ who Lord Voldemort was. He knew this guy didn't particularly care about people with mortal blood, like himself and his entire _family_ , his _friends_ , but even he had to admit, if all of them could keep their powers…. That was tempting. And the part that chilled him the most, the part that kept him up at night, kept him looking for Alex and Max in the crowd. The part where she had told him, _"None of you would have to die."_

He shuddered, dropping his quill and leaving an ink spot on the empty sheet. Where had death come from? He rubbed his eyes wearily and stared at the table. If he had said yes to her, that day, what would have happened? Obviously, he didn't want to join a wizard out to murder people like him, but if there was a chance to save his family, if Juliet or anyone else offered again, would he be able to say no?

He groaned again, holding his head in his hands. This was ridiculous. He came to Hogwarts to _study¸_ not for this life and death situation. Huffing angrily, he scrunched up his eyebrows and forced himself to write.

His attention broke when he heard a quiet chuckle in front of him.

He looked up, and saw Hermione, who was also carrying a pile of textbooks.

"Sorry, did I disturb you?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No, it's okay. Sit down. You look like you're going to fall over."

She kicked the chair towards her and plopped the books on the table before taking a seat. "Thank you. Sorry for laughing, but you did look a bit funny."

Justin shrugged, dismissing the comment. He had gotten worse remarks from his siblings. "It's fine. Ancient Runes is just harder than I thought."

She nodded in agreement. "I know. I've studied the sixth-year material in advance, and don't tell anyone, but I don't think I understood half of it!"

"Half?" he let out a short laugh. "I'm pretty sure I understand none of it. Professor Babbling is giving me run-down assignments from previous years, but it hasn't been helping. Some of the symbols don't have the translations I need." He decided she didn't need to know he couldn't concentrate in the first place.

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Perhaps I could help."

He handed her the text he needed to translate, which according to Professor Babbling, was an excerpt from the last year's exams. He doubted Hermione would know anything, but he didn't either, so that was okay.

He almost jumped out of his seat when Hermione gasped loudly.

"I see your problem!" she exclaimed. "The textbook doesn't give you some of the code translations and the basics of how to translate it because they assume you would have memorized it from previous years."

Justin raised an eyebrow and leaned forward. She pointed to the unicorn rune. "See here? The unicorn and unknown represent 1 and 7. We memorized numbers and a lot of basic runes in third and fourth year, so they don't add the translations for older years."

"That makes sense, actually. Thanks, Hermione." He took the textbook back from her and wrote down what she had said, making a mental note to get the third-year and fourth-year textbooks. Then an idea struck him.

"Hermione, do you mind if you help me with something else?" he asked.

"I suppose. You don't mind if I do a bit of my essay though, do you? Strolling through Hogsmeade yesterday has made me a bit behind."

He shook his head. "That's alright. I just need to know where to find a bit of past news articles is all."

Hermione hummed, and scribbled a few notes down before she returned her focus on Justin. "Well, if it's for History of Magic or something, I suppose you could ask Madame Pince."

He hesitated, but decided it was worth it. "I was actually thinking more of the lines of news articles about Lord Voldemort."

Hermione's pot of ink clattered as she dropped her quill in surprise. She raised her head, her eyes wide and her hair seemed to become more frazzled in those few seconds.

"You-Know-Who?" she hissed, her eyes glancing around nervously. "Why do you need news articles about _him_?"

Justin faltered. How was he going to answer that without looking suspicious? He looked around, glancing at the bookshelves behind Hermione before answering. "I've just been hearing a lot of rumours, you know? Er, it's always nice to know the facts before I make a judgement?"

He didn't fault Hermione for not looking convinced.

"Well, I can assure you that You-Know-Who is _very_ much alive, and that any news article you find from the Daily Prophet lately is a load of hogwash."

"Is it because they say Harry's just making it all up?" Justin inquires. Maybe it's not his smartest move, but it's better than letting the conversation drop.

"Of course!" Hermione exclaims indignantly. "How could they not believe him? Poor Harry comes back with Cedric _dead_ , and they claim he's lying? That it's all for _attention_? A student died, and another is traumatized but all the Ministry cares about is ignoring the problem, rather than facing it!"

From the tables beside them, other students hush harshly. Hermione huffed and settled for glaring at Justin.

" _Anyways,_ " she says, more quietly but with the same amount of anger. "If you're worried about You-Know-Who or want to know more, your best bet is with Dumbledore. He'll tell you what you need to know and nothing less." With that, she shoved a sheet of parchment under her nose and started muttering to herself.

Justin nodded grimly. He came to the same solution himself, but he wasn't so sure Dumbledore would be so open to the thought of Justin consorting with enemies, despite the fact that one of the said enemies was also his girlfriend. (But if they were enemies, did that mean they broke up? He banished the thought. That was a headache for another day). Then again, it's not like he was going to join Voldemort or anything. He was merely curious about the truth; well, if he wanted to simply the truth.

He decided that going to Dumbledore wasn't a bad start.

* * *

He stood in front of the phoenix gargoyle to Dumbledore's office, listing every magical thing he could think off from Chimeras to the lesser-known brother of Cornelius Fudge, Azelmin Fudge. He was slowly getting frustrated with the lack of response from the gargoyle, who said nothing. Its lips merely twitched with every guess. It didn't take a genius to know that it was mocking him. His face felt like a sauna at this point, and he was about to go back to the dorms, when he heard someone call out his name. He swiveled around to find Alex and Dominic walking towards him.

"Justin!" Dominic called out again. "What are you doing in front of Dumbledore's office?"

Justin froze, his mouth thinning into a straight line and his eyes wide open. How was he supposed to respond to that?

Alex chuckled and snorted. "Oh, don't worry about that. He probably just wants to complain about an E he's getting for one of his classes," she remarked, waving her hand nonchalantly.

Usually, Justin hated Alex's habit of dismissing his worry about his studies, but right then he was proud to call her his sister.

"Exactly," Justin stumbled, and wagged his finger in what he hoped was a confirmation. "Snape gave me an A for one of the potions I did even though it was perfect."

He ignored Alex's surprised look. Dominic roared with laughter. "Oh, was it the Forgetfulness Potion he made us do last week?" he asked. Justin nodded, asking himself why this guy was buying his story. "Don't worry. Not even us Slytherins got even an E for that one. Snape's just cruel like that, you know?"

Justin chuckled breathily. "Totally." Desperate to change the subject, he asked, "So, what are you two up to?"

"Alex was just telling me about Hogsmeade yesterday." Dominic replied. "Did you know her and Max made a bet and now-."

Alex yanked his sleeve hard enough to make him stumble backwards. " _Justin_ doesn't need to know about any of that. As you can _see_ , he's busy and needs Dumbledore's help with his nerd thing, whatever."

Justin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Wait, but Alex, we aren't -."

He couldn't finish his sentence before Alex dragged Dominic away, ranting about how he was very busy and didn't have time for her nonsense. While, yes, that was true, it still didn't mean he shouldn't be aware of Alex's rule-breaking shenanigans. He couldn't have Alex turning Hogwarts into more of a disaster than it already was.

Before he could do anything else, Dominic turned back to him and shouted, "The password to Dumbledore's office is always some type of candy!" Then, he turned his attention back to Alex, who didn't seem to notice anything.

Justin blinked, then stared at the gargoyle again. Its beady, marble eyes challenged him to answer.

"Mars Bar?" he asked. He didn't really know too much about magical treats and hoped Dumbledore liked Muggle chocolate bars better.

To his surprise, the phoenix swiveled aside to reveal a winding staircase. Tentatively, Justin stepped forward, fearing that the gargoyle was playing a trick on him. When nothing happened for several seconds, he calmed down, and continued his way up the staircase. At the top, he heard a resounding boom as the gargoyle closed.

He stood in front of the door. Shivers crawled up his spine and his palms were sweaty. Maybe he should turn back. It would be suspicious to ask about a terrorist wizard halfway into the school year, after all. Right?

He never had the chance to turn back. Dumbledore called out, "Come in."

Gulping, he rubbed the palms of his hands onto his robe. He opened the office door to see Dumbledore on his desk, numerous piles of documents on either side of him. His half-moon glasses twinkled in the candlelight as he looked up and saw Justin.

"What brings me the pleasure of your visit, Mister Russo?" he asked calmly and continued signing a document.

Justin's face reddened. "Oh, um, I can see you're very busy. Maybe it's better if I come back another time."

"Now, Mister Russo, what troubles you so?" Dumbledore set down his quill and stared. His piercing blue eyes stared onto his own brown ones, and he could practically _feel_ Dumbledore probing at his mind. Justin realized that there was a huge possibility that Dumbledore already knew what he was here for.

He stumbled upon his words, searching for a response.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. He smiled gently and gestured toward the seat in front of him. "Would you like to take a seat?"

Without thinking, Justin nodded and sat in front of him. His shoulders stiffened and his back straightened. Dumbledore waited as the silence settled over them.

"Um, professor?" Justin said, breaking the silence. "Could you tell me more about Lord Voldemort?"

"Now why would you ask me about that?'

"Well," Justin cleared his throat. "There's a lot of rumours circling around that he's back. Or well, more like everyone thinks he _isn't_ but he _is_ and it's kind of confusing."

The twinkle in his eyes dimmed a bit, and Justin was absolutely sure he could hear his heart pounding in his chest. He briefly wondered if Dumbledore could, too.

"I just wanted to know if we're safe." He finished, rather lamely, in his opinion. But how was he supposed to tell him the truth.

"Mister Russo, I can assure you that you and your siblings, as well as all of Hogwarts are safe here from Lord Voldemort." Dumbledore put his hands together.

"But sir, didn't a student die here?" Justin inquired, remembering a Cedric Diggory mentioned in some of the news articles from the beginning of the year, as well as what Hermione said in the library,

" _Poor Harry comes back with Cedric dead, and they claim he's lying?"_

That scared him more than he'd liked to admit.

"Cedric Diggory." He bowed his head. "I can assure you that I will do everything I can to make sure that no student will repeat his fate. I swear on my honour, Mister Russo." Dumbledore seemed to age another few years. The lines on his face deepened, his eyes seemed to sink under his eyelids. His eyes no longer sparkled.

Justin gulped, wanting to pry further despite everything in his body warning him not to. "I'm not sure my parents would be okay with this if they knew, Professor."

Dumbledore sighed wearily. "The safety of you and your siblings is why you are here in the first place, Mister Russo. Professor Crumbs and I decided that it would be dangerous for you three to stay in America. Especially with your previous escapades with several dark forces."

Justin froze. His mind was reeling. Did that mean the Wizard Family Competition was just a façade? And what dark forces? Was Professor Dumbledore talking about the Angels of Darkness? Ronald Longcape? Professor Evilini? More people like Stevie? And were they worse than the threat of Lord Voldemort? Or was Dumbledore more powerful than he seemed?

Logically, Wiztech wasn't all that secure. After all, two evil, self-proclaimed masterminds had snuck in before, and they weren't all that smart. But, a niggling thought repeated itself in Justin's mind.

"Why?" He asked. He furrowed his eyebrows, contemplating the situation from multiple angles.

"The temptation of dark magic is spreading, Mister Russo. Your parents wanted to keep you far away from it as possible."

"But, it's not like we haven't faced those kinds of things before." Justin pointed out. Not that long ago, he faced Gorog yet again and combined forces with Alex and Max for the ultimate spell to defeat him.

"Your parents wish for you to avoid such conflicts this time around. As you may have noticed, more American witches and wizards are going abroad also. Professor Crumbs has temporarily closed Wiztech to help the Magical Congress of the United States control the situation. Hard times are coming, I afraid." Dumbledore said, clasping his hands more tightly, his head bowed down in sorrow.

"And we're safe here?" Justin asked. He was tempted to ask if the vampire clans in America were involved in whatever was going on, but he already knew that he wouldn't like Dumbledore's answer.

"I swear it on my life."

Justin gulped. He clenched his fists and stood up. "Thank you, Professor Dumbledore."

"You are welcome, Mister Russo. I bid you good luck."

"Thank you."

He walked out of the office. Every step forward felt like he was sinking further down onto the ground. Each minute in the silence left him with thousands of thoughts swirling around each other.

He knew two things. First, he would have to find a way to contact Juliet. Try to convince her that whatever plan she mentioned was insane.

Despite everything, he felt his heart break for her.

Second, he would have to tell Alex and Max everything- eventually. There was no need to involve them, if they couldn't do anything about it.

Right?

If possible, he dreaded everything to come a tenfold more than before.

* * *

After talking with Dominic, Alex made her way to the Owlery to see if her parents had responded back to her letter already. Despite sending it only the day before, she couldn't wait. The potential responses her parents would give her taunted her every thought, filling in every nook and cranny.

She couldn't forget Mason's transformation, his harsh growl, the way he had scampered from the corner of her eye as she fled. He was injured and alone. Her heart ached.

She spotted the same owl she sent her letter with, a letter in its beak.

Alex approached it, taking out the snacks she had prepared for the owl. She took the letter from its beak and handed him the treats. Upon touching the letter, she knew something was wrong.

She tried to think of explanations of what could have occurred, but she couldn't think of any. Each revelation weighed down like twenty pounds of concrete. She had seen the owl fly off to deliver her message yesterday; watched it until she couldn't see it no more. The owl in front of her looked healthy, save for being covered in dust and a few feathers. The letter she was holding was covered in the same dust that the owl was covered in.

She opened it just to be sure.

Her heart sank when she saw her own messy scrawl taunt her. Fears swirled around her head as she slumped to the stony ground, tears making it her way down to her face.

The letter never made it to its recipient.

And the possibilities for the reason why were endless.

* * *

 **A/N: Would you believe me if I told you that this was supposed to be a _short_ chapter? Eh. Makes up for the months I spent with writer's block.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Wizard of Waverly Place belongs to Disney. Thanks to anyone who reads this, reviewed, favourited or/and followed. :)**

 **Warning: Few swears spread throughout the story.**

 **:NON-CANON COMPLIANT. Some of the events will be mixed up because it's hard to keep track of minor events and stuff like that concerning the Golden Trio. Seriously, I fact-checked myself and face-palmed for eternity. So, that's a thing I'll be working on throughout this fic…probably. Although, the events of this day in canon is split between two days in fanon; I promise it's plot-relevant.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

 **Alex's POV**

Justin, Max and I were gathered at one of the abandoned classrooms that I had dragged them in moments earlier. I finished explaining what happened with the letter that I had gotten back a few days ago. The very thought of what its return meant shook me to the core, but I figured this wasn't something I could handle alone. Fortunately, Justin and Max were still here for me to count on.

"What do you mean they never got your letter?" Max asked, looking at me with the all too familiar confusion of his.

"Look, I told you." I sighed, trying to keep my patience. A bubble of panic rose in my chest. "I sent them an owl on Saturday and the owl came back on Sunday all dusty. The letter I gave it was still holding this same letter." I took the letter out of my pocket and showed Max and Justin.

The letter was in the same condition as I had found it, although I had left dusty fingerprints on it since then. They stared at it in speculation, then back at me, then back at the letter again. Justin snatched the letter away from my fingers and opened it. As he reads it, his eyes widened. He looked back at me, wide-eyed.

"Is this some kind of prank?" he demanded.

"What are you talking about, Justin?" Max asked. He tried to grab the letter, but Justin kept holding it out of his reach.

"No! Why would you even think that?" Disgust churns at the bottom of my gut. How could he even think I would make up something like that? I wasn't _that_ bad.

"Oh, so you're saying that you saw _Mason_ , who's supposed to be in _America_ on the grounds in _Scotland_ and that he's _somehow_ involved with this Voldemort guy that everyone is talking about." He said mockingly. There's almost a defensive edge to his voice, the same way it did when Dominic and I caught him outside of Dumbledore's office.

" _Yes_ ," I answered, resisting the urge to hex him silly. "Why would I lie about something like that?"

"Wait," Max interjected. "You saw _Mason?_ As in, your werewolf boyfriend Mason?" He furrowed his eyebrows in contemplative thought. I groaned.

"Yes," I repeat. "And yes, he's involved in whatever is going on with Voldemort, which means he's _alive_ and that Harry and them were right."

"But then why isn't there more panic? Why isn't anyone doing anything?" Max asked.

"I don't know, but I think we should do something." I said. "We should go tell Dumbledore or-,"

"No." Justin said firmly. The letter was nearly demolished in his fist.

"What do you mean?" I exclaimed in confusion. "There's clearly something wrong with Mason and with our parents!" What was wrong with Justin? How could he even suggest the opposite of going for help?

"Yeah, Justin. I think we should go for help too. This seems really-,"

"No. Look, maybe there was a reason that Mom and Dad didn't get the letter. Maybe they're on vacation or something."

"That's bullshit and you know it," I slammed my hands on the desktop with a loud bang. "What is going on with you?"

Sighing, Justin pinched his nose. "I'm just saying we shouldn't be jumping to conclusions here." His voice was calm and resigned; it pissed me off so much more than if he just admitted he was angry.

I growled in frustration. "What the _fuck,_ Justin? Why would Mason tell me to ask Mom and Dad if they had nothing to do with this-?"

SLAM.

Justin rose to his feet, his hands slamm firmly on the desktop. "Look. If Mom and Dad didn't tell us, it means they don't want us involved. Just leave it _alone_ , Alex." He shifted his gaze over to Max. "You too. I don't even want you _thinking_ about getting involved. I'm going."

He stormed out the room and let door close with a resounding boom. I stood up and glared at the ground. Anger and frustration swirled around in my head, filling my every thought. What the fuck was that? Justin was a stuck-up pain in the ass at times, but this was taking it to a whole new level.

"So, what are we going to do?" Max asked. He had stayed silent throughout the whole affair, looking more serious than I have ever seen him. I sighed resignedly.

"We find out what's going on, kick butt, and sleep."

"How are we going to do that?"

I sighed again. "I don't know. We'll wing it, I guess," I said. I looked at Max. "What do you think?"

"I want to know what's going on with Justin. He's being whack lately."

I nodded. "I agree." I stayed silent, contemplating his behaviour. An idea struck me. "What are the chances of Justin going to the Quidditch match today?"

Max shrugged. "It's Gryffindor versus Slytherin."

I smirked. "OK. Let's start by finding where he is," I said. Taking out my wand, I pointed to a random canvas on the wall and chanted, " _Please, please, tell me now. Is there something I should know? Deranium, deranium._ "

Hopefully, it would show me what I wanted to know this time.

The canvas turned into a blur of colours before reforming into focus. The canvas showed numerous shelves filled to the brim with old, musty books. In front of one of the shelves was my brother, precariously taking out a book that probably weighed more than him. He ducked as a series of books flew past him at top speeds before returning back to what he was doing. I sighed. Of course, he was in the library; I should have been able to guess that. What a waste of a spell. I looked at Max.

"Let's get him."

After turning the canvas back to normal, Max and I exited out of the room and headed for the library.

* * *

We were somewhere near the Great Hall when Max piped up.

"Hey, Alex. Couldn't we have stayed in the classroom and spied on Justin there?"

I froze.

For once, Max had a point. When I fully processed what he said, I groaned. I slapped myself in the face. Dammit, I totally wasted time climbing up all those stairs when I could have been spying on Justin while sitting on a beanbag or something. Ugh. I turned around to face Max.

"Couldn't you have said this sooner? _Before_ I made myself exercise?" I asked through gritted teeth.

Max put his hands up and backed up a bit. "Sorry, I just realized it right now."

I sighed in frustration. Whatever. I could do the spell again. We just needed to find an empty classroom. That would be easy with everyone going outside to watch the match. I sighed again. That was probably so much cooler than what my brother must be doing in the _library_ of all places.

"Whatever." I said. "Let's just do it again. Come on." Trudging, I headed toward a random corridor.

And because the universe apparently hated me, I was met with the most obnoxious redheaded twins I have ever met. I cringed. They were wearing their Quidditch robes, red and gold just like the rest of the Gryffindor marked merchandise in this school. They carried their brooms in their outer hands. I didn't know what their positions were, but if they were headed for the Pitch, it shouldn't concern me anyway. Unfortunately, this corridor was heading for the outside gates-and these two would have to pass by me to get there.

When the Weasley Twins spotted me, they cracked wide, identical grins before making a beeline right for me.

"Alex!" They greeted way too cheerfully for my liking. I stiffened and grimaced. I gave them a stiff wave. They turned to my brother beside me and greeted him too. My brother greeted them as cheerfully. Then they turned back to me. Just great.

"So, so, so," Fred said, wagging a finger in front of my face. George leered over me as if he found me suspicious.

"Where are you off to when your house,"

"The best house, by the way,"

Fred nodded. "Right you are, Gred. When the _best_ house with the _best_ Quidditch team,"

"Is about to make history by beating those snakes,"

"'Till they wished they'd never been born!" George finished, fist pumping victoriously. Fred cheered, and fist bumped his twin twenty different ways enthusiastically.

I widened my eyes at their usually eccentric display. "Wow. Wish I'd never been born," I muttered.

George turned towards me, his eyes sparkling mischieviously. "What was that, Russo? Did you say you wish you were watching the game?"

Fred nodded and held out his ear. "I think so, Greddie. I think she said she wanted to watch the two incredibly handsome Beaters beat the Merlin out of some snakes."

"Right you are, Forge," said George, nodding seriously.

I groaned but stayed where I was. I had learned the hard way that trying to escape the Twins was like trying to get me out of bed; possible but took _way_ too much effort. Besides, Justin practically lived in the library and these two were mildly amusing.

The Twins harrumphed and straightened their posture pompously. I almost sighed in relief. I said almost, because then they linked their arms through mine and lifted me up in the air.

"Hey!" I protested, trying to wriggle out of their control. "Don't you have a game to get to?"

They nodded in sync and responded, "Of course we do."

Fred continued. "And you, our dear American rival,"

"Need to support us in this very special game," George finished. He turned to Max. "Do you want to come with us?"

Max glanced up at me. I glared at him and shook my head furiously. No way. The matches lasted ages and would probably take up a lot of time. Justin would be gone by then. Max gave me a thumbs up.

"So you want to, Maximillion?" Fred asked. He resembled those troublesome puppies I sometimes saw around New York.

Max panicked and put his hand down. "Er, I meant no! Sorry!" With that, he rushed off from our sight and, hopefully, towards the library.

The Twins bounced me once, and I swear I am so done with these two.

"Well then, Ally-kins!" Fred said.

"Let's go kick some Slytherin arse!" George cheered.

In the five seconds before they rushed me to the Quidditch Pitch in inhumane speeds, I swore that I would escape the Twins next time. Unfortunately, I was too busy screeching to plan anything more complicated than the classic ditch and dash.

Yep, the universe had it out for me.

* * *

After the Twins dropped me off with Hermione and her friends, Neville, Ginny, and a blond with a lion hat, they left to meet up with their team down in the changing rooms. I shouted curses for a bit before exchanging greetings with the group. I complimented the blonde on her hat.

"Thank you," she said airily. "My name's Luna."

I smiled and gave her a small nod. "Alex."

Beside her, Hermione gave a small smile before biting her lip and looking out towards the Pitch. Her eyebrows were so furrowed they almost connected.

"You okay?" I asked. She turned to me and smiled shakily.

"I'm worried for Ron," she admitted. Beside her, Ginny scoffed.

"Look Hermione, Ron will be fine," Ginny said, her jaw tightly set. "He's going to kick snake arse out there. Just you watch."

Hermione sighed resignedly. "I hope so. But the Slytherins, they're horrible! They've been taunting him for the past few weeks. I'm worried he'll actually believe it."

Ginny sighed. "Well, brother dear's about to learn what being a Gryffindor means."

I nodded and turned to Hermione. "Look, Ron and I aren't exactly buddies or whatever, but I'm pretty sure Alicia doesn't let idiots onto the team."

Ginny nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, Hermione. Alex's right!" She patted Hermione's back comfortingly before turning to me and whispered, "Angelina's the captain, not Alicia."

Oh. Whoops. It's not like I can remember everyone's name in the three months I've been here. Gryffindor had a lot of students and I'm pretty sure I've only officially met less than a quarter of them.

"Anyways," I said and pointed to Lee who began introducing the players. "The game's starting!"

And with that, everyone's attention was glued onto the red and green robed players on the Pitch. I watched curiously and listened to Lee introducing each team. It dawned on me that this was my first time watching a Quidditch match. I wasn't going to deny that I was a little excited. My lips tilted upward and I cheered along with everyone else when Lee introduced the Gryffindor players. Feeling a bit generous, I cheered louder for Ron, who looked like a human tomato, his face bright red with all the cheering. Hermione and Ginny almost busted my eardrums with how loud they cheered.

I grinned as the players lined up and mounted their brooms and zoomed in the sky. Madam Hooch threw a red leather ball into the air and one of the Gryffindor players- Johnson, according to Lee- caught it and zoomed away. At the same time, two canon-like balls zoomed violently in the air, the Twins and two Slytherin players chasing them with wooden bats. Lastly, a miniscule golden ball flitted out of the box before flying away into seemingly non-existence.

Despite not knowing any of the rules whatsoever, I watched in amazement as the players swooped and zoomed around the Pitch. With Lee Jordan commentating, I could follow the game a bit easily.

Then the singing and boos that I thought were normal grew louder and clearer. Their voices became so loud that Lee stopped his commentary, giving way to the new anthem arising from the section opposite us: the Slytherins.

I heard Hermione mutter incoherently into her scarf. I turned to her. "What's going on?"

Hermione stared at me, her eyes burning with fury of a thousand flames. "Those despicable rats. I can't believe they're going this far."

"Huh?"

Ginny turned to me, and I felt fear. If Hermione was a woman scorned, Ginny was something else entirely. She hissed, "Listen."

I gulped and focused on their singing turned chanting. It was so loud that they drowned out Lee's commentary completely.

" _WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN_

 _HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN_

 _WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN_

 _WEASLEY IS OUR KING."_

Even though I wasn't as furious as either Hermione or Ginny, or even Neville whose fists were clenched so hard his knuckles were white, I still felt anger. While it wasn't the dirtiest trick I've seen in my life, it was still horrible to call out someone who didn't deserve it like that. I focused on Ron who rested in front of the three hoops already nervous. I can practically hear him shaking. Wanting to do anything, I took out my wand. Luna grabbed my hand gently.

"Don't. If you interfere with magic, Gryffindor will receive a penalty and it won't do any good," she said.

"But, we can't just-!" I protested. This was ridiculous. Didn't Hogwarts have a cheerleading squad for these exact situations? Was this the first time anyone did stupid stunts like this? I groaned.

"That's okay," Luna said calmly. She took her own wand, pointed it at her hat and said, " _Sonorus."_

The lion's roar multiplied in volume, although it couldn't drown out the singing. Then I heard everyone else's loud, passionate cheers coming from our section. I joined them too. Gryffindor was _my_ House. Anyone who had beef with them, had beef with me.

The game ended intensely with Harry and a blond Slytherin -Malfoy, I think- chasing for something on the ground, neck in neck. Neville yelped that they must have seen the Snitch. I'm guessing that was that small ball I saw earlier. Harry reached out and clasped his hand tightly around something as he dove. The moment he did, Gryffindor screamed in celebration. I joined in too. Maybe I didn't know what happened really, but winning was winning, right?

The celebration lasted for a few minutes before yelling was heard down from the Pitch. Some of the voices sounded like the Twins, and soon a voice resounded throughout the area.

"HARRY! GEORGE! NO!"

Almost all of us stopped the celebrations and peered down onto the ground below. The Gryffindor Quidditch team was holding the twins back while the blond from earlier stood back aghast and held his nose protectively. I wonder what happened. Then I saw a gangly redhead at the outskirts of the commotion and it clicked. Harry and George (and most likely, Fred) were defending Ron and had turned into a brawl.

"Come on, guys. We better head back into the common room," Hermione said. "I have a feeling we won't have a happy celebration this time."

We agreed and left our seats. When we finally made it out of the bleachers, we made the trek towards the castle. Ginny was yelling curses and threats the whole time as Hermione half-heartedly tried to comfort her. It continued for a while as we passed by the Owlery.

I was about to say something when someone caught my eye. Justin. He came out of the Owlery, his shoulders slumped, and his eyebrows scrunched together. I froze in my tracks and headed back a bit, letting the rest go ahead without me. As sneakily as I could, I hid at the opposite side of the exit and watched Justin stomp his feet in frustration. He stopped and observed his surroundings. Even if I didn't know Justin well, I knew he was looking for people like me, people who would follow him. I gulped, a bit guilty about my mission from earlier. Hopefully Max managed to find something, no matter how unlikely it seemed to be.

I cast a Disillusionment spell on myself before going after Justin, who couldn't seem to relax. Maybe the argument from this morning was bothering him too. The sun was up in the sky, clear with barely any clouds. It was weird how only a few hours had passed. My stomach gurgled, which reminded me that I barely ate anything today. After this, I promised my stomach and willing it to be quiet.

I trailed after Justin, and I wondered if there was any reason to be suspicious of him. Sure, it was weird that he didn't want to say anything about the letter, but maybe it was just him being his normal uptight self. Then I remembered that day where I saw him in front of Dumbledore's office with Dominic. He seemed fine with it then, and it obviously wasn't for his nerdy grades at that time. With my resolve strengthened, I followed him as he strode past the castle gates and headed for the Forbidden Forest.

Um. Hold up.

What?

My brother, Justin Russo, Mr. Goody-Two Shoes Extraordinaire, going into the Forbidden Forest, the forest that was obviously forbidden?

No way, I thought. Maybe he was headed for the ramshackle hut near the Forest.

Dammit. That was still suspicious. As far as I knew, no one inhabited the hut and students tended to avoid it.

My fears were confirmed when Justin trudged past the hut and into the shadowy trees of the Forest. I followed him in, not really sure _why_ the Forest was forbidden. I looked around and it seemed like any regular forest. A bunch of trees, a bunch of animals, probably no cell reception, and a whole lot of bugs.

While I was looking around, I didn't realize that I had lost Justin. Dammit. Hurrying, I searched for him. It took more than a bit, but I finally found him at a clearing. He stood in front of a blonde girl. I stopped in my tracks. That wasn't any random blonde; that was Juliet. What was she doing here?

I inched closer, trying to listen in on their conversation while staying far enough that Juliet couldn't catch my scent. Soon, I could hear snippets of their conversation.

"Juliet, I don't like this anymore than you do, but I have to protect my family," Justin said firmly. My eyes widened, questions swirling in my mind. What the hell?

"This would help your family, I'm sure of it." Juliet said.

"Not in the way they would want." Justin stared intensely at Juliet. His eyes drooped, and his shoulders sagged. He looked guilty, like he was carrying a heavy weight he couldn't let go of.

"Fine," Juliet snapped. "Be like that. But you've chosen your side. Make sure to remember that. See you around, Justin."

With a whoosh, I heard Juliet fly away in her bat form. Justin stood still for a while, staring at the spot Juliet had been a minute before.

I stared at my brother, shocked. What had he gotten himself into? It didn't seem like something he wanted to do, but for some reason thought it was necessary. Was Juliet forcing him to do something against his will? By using us against him? What did she mean when she said it would help us? What would help us? Did that mean something really did happen to our parents?

I tried to clear my heads with thoughts, but it was futile. Numerous questions raced around my head. I looked at Justin again. Despite the sun outside, the forest's shadows made Justin more solemn than he looked. His fists were clenched tightly, the whites of his knuckles stood out against his skin. I squinted my eyes and bit my lip in frustration. What the hell was going on? Why wasn't he telling anyone?

My blood ran cold as an idea struck me.

Was it possible that Justin already knew the fate of our parents? I thought back to his conversation with Juliet. He had said that whatever Juliet mentioned wouldn't help us the way we wanted it to. Did he know what type of help it was? Were he and Juliet behind it? Or at least did they know the person who did it? It being whatever had happened to my folks back home. They couldn't have gone on vacation, the owl would have found them regardless, but it didn't.

Then I remembered what Juliet had told Justin. Justin had chosen his side. His side with her? Was she frustrated that he wasn't cooperating like she thought he would? That couldn't be it, right? But why else would she tell him that she'd see him around? Unless, they really were working together.

My stomach dropped. Goosebumps pricked my skin. I collapsed next to the tree I was hiding behind. My head ached. That couldn't be it, right? I was being paranoid. Ugh. This was too much stress for me. I couldn't think properly and every time I tried to make sense of everything, I ended up with more questions than any possibilities.

I decided that going back to the castle was my best bet. Maybe there would be enough festivities to keep my mind off of things.

* * *

I was stopped by Max on the way to the Gryffindor common room. He pulled me aside into an empty classroom and shoved a sheet of paper towards me. Snatching it from his hand, I read the letter:

 _Justin,_

 _I'm surprised you've written to me again, but I will meet with you like you've asked. If you want to consider my proposal, meet me in the Forbidden Forest. I know you have hesitations, but I promise, he can help you. The Dark Lord has helped so many of us, I'm sure he'll help you too. You should see my parents. I haven't seen them this happy in centuries._

 _I hope you choose our side, Justin. I know how happy you and the others would be when all of you become wizards. You're all too brilliant to lose your magic. I know you have your disagreements with it too._

 _See you soon,_

 _Juliet._

My blood ran cold. The Dark Lord. The motherfucking Dark Lord. Dark Lord, as in another name for Lord Voldemort. Juliet was working for Lord Voldemort and is trying to convince my brother to do the same.

Their conversation in the woods earlier echoed in my ears. Of course, Justin wouldn't like this method; he had to work with a murderous rampaging psychopath, after all! Did he really want all of us to stay wizards? Was it that easy to persuade Justin?

I stared at Max wide-eyed. Shakily, I tell him all I saw and heard from Justin and Juliet's conversation. Then, I told him what I thought. By the end, Max seemed horrified.

"Alex, maybe you're wrong," he said. He bit his lip nervously. I knew he was considering it too.

"Then what else could it be?"

"You didn't hear everything, right?"

I exhaled. "With what they were saying? It's pretty obvious what they meant, plus with this letter," I said, holding up the letter to his face and waving it. "How did you get this anyway?"

"Well, he was studying in the library with Dominic, right? But then, suddenly he left in a rush and couldn't get all his things. So, I went to the library. Then, Dominic gave me Justin's stuff, telling me he left. I found the letter when I accidentally tripped down the stairwell after."

I widened my eyes. "You said Dominic was with him?"

Max nodded.

"What are the chances of Dominic knowing about this letter?"

Max shook his head. "I already went back and asked him about it, because I thought it was a prank. Said he didn't know what it was."

"Maybe we should ask again," I suggested, fully knowing that Max was easily the most gullible person on Earth. He still believed that lie I told him about his marbles being gone because they became replacement eyes for blind people, when really, I accidentally threw it out.

"Whatever, Alex. I'm tired. We'll work on this tomorrow, I'm too confused right now. See you."

With that, Max walked out the door, leaving me alone to contemplate my thoughts.

* * *

I returned to the common room after dinner in the Great Hall. I expected it to be empty, considering a lot of people were still out eating. I was surprised to find the Golden Trio cuddled on the giant couch in the middle.

"Hey, what's up?" I greeted as I approached them.

Hermione looked up and smiled. "Hey Alex. Can you tell this lug over here," she nudged Ron, "that he's not a complete failure?"

Ron moaned further into the throw pillow he was trying to suffocate himself with, apparently.

I frowned at his behaviour, not really feeling patient today,

"Oi, Ron." He looked up at me, his hair dishevelled. Harry sat beside him and gave me a warning look. I rolled my eyes. "You're only a loser if you believe you are. Stop giving a shit, and your life would be so much easier."

Hermione glared at me. I shrugged nonchalantly. That was my life motto. If I spent too much time caring about what others thought while dealing with stuff like today, I would have exploded a long time ago.

"Does that work?" Ron asked me. He looked put down and really, it was kind of pathetic. I felt bad, remembering what a wreck he'd been during the match.

Ugh. Time for the Harper method: honest, but way nicer than my method.

"Yeah, it works. Besides, if you believed your friends like these two, over a bunch of snakes, I bet that your confidence would be so much better. You're not bad, Ron. You just care too much," I said, trying to sound as nice as possible. What I said was nice, right? It's not like I used the Harper method normally.

Ron stared at me, then at Harry and Hermione beside him. He slouched, releasing the tension from his shoulders. "Yeah, I suppose you've got a point," he said. He then smiled at the other two. "Sorry I've been a prat about this."

Harry smiled and punched his arm. "When aren't you a prat, Ron?"

Hermione smiled and squeezed Ron's hands in reassurance. "Don't worry, Ronald. We think you're an amazing Keeper, alright?"

Ron smiled wider. "Well, if the brightest witch of our age is saying it, then how could I argue?" Then, he turned to me. "Thanks for that advice, Alex."

I shrugged. "No prob. If you want any help with revenge, I'm better at that than advice," I said.

He shook his head. "Nah. I think Fred and George have it covered, especially since they've been kicked off the team."

I raised an eyebrow. "Umbridge doing?" I figured it was probably the fight earlier that caused that. Not to mention, detentions with her were brutal. (It made me miss neat freak Professor Eupraxia.) I still had the scars on my hand. I could imagine her kicking off a bunch of students who didn't deserve it.

Harry nodded. "I got kicked off too."

"Sorry mate," Ron said. Harry dismissed his apology with a bro hug.

"Anything for a mate," he said and grinned widely. Soon, they drifted off into their own conversation, and eventually I was tired enough to go to bed. I greeted them good night and went to my dorm.

Unfortunately, chatting with them wasn't a small enough distraction to stop the questions rushing through my head like they were on a marathon. I have never felt more confused in my life. And never have I felt so distant from Justin, either. I didn't know what was going on with him anymore, and honestly, the truth scared me.

Because I'm pretty sure that any other possibility was erased the moment Justin met Juliet in the forest earlier today. But there were always a bunch of what ifs or scenarios that I couldn't discern which one was plausible or not.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep well that night.

* * *

 **P.S. Can you tell I wrote this in the ungodly hours of the morning? XD**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Wizard of Waverly Place belongs to Disney. Thanks to anyone who reads this, reviewed, favourited or/and followed. :)**

 **Warning: Few swears spread throughout the story.**

 **:NON-CANON COMPLIANT. Some of the events will be mixed up because it's hard to keep track of minor events and stuff like that concerning the Golden Trio.**

 **EDIT: I just went in and edited some things. Sorry if you got an update notification.**

* * *

Alex's POV

Ever since I began to write my lines with that stupid quill, the back of my hand burned; my own handwriting seared itself into my skin over the scars from nights before, always with the same phrase: _I must not fool around._

I gulped and forced myself to keep writing the words over and over again. My skin felt cool and sweaty at the same time. I shoved down a scream when I accidentally stabbed the parchment too hard. I hated this. I hated her; the evil toad smiling down on me like she got off on my pain. I gulped again and wrote the last few letters. Detention was almost over, she couldn't keep me here after curfew.

I gasped in pain. Umbridge sipped her tea before addressing me, "Take your time, dearie. Let the message _really sink in_."

I glared at her, mustering all the anger I had. I'll let this quill sink into her neck. I stabbed the pen into the parchment as I finished one of the phrases. At this point, I wasn't sure if I had any blood left to sustain this torture device. If it wasn't for the repetition of the same phrase I wouldn't have even know what the hell I was writing. The back of my hand was shiny with blood. It had already been an hour, when was she going to let me leave? I wondered if she was going to let me bleed to death- before I remembered that was definitely illegal. I cursed Max under my breath. It was his fault that I was here in the first place- throwing me under the bus for his failed Cucuy prank.

My fingers trembled and I lost my grip on the quill. It clattered onto the parchment and rolled off the table. Hissing in pain, I shook my hand, trying to get some feeling into it again. Umbridge peered at me over her stupid cup of tea, before setting it down. The sickly sweet smell had already filled the room and was probably the only thing more painful than my stupid hand. I stared at her; if she wanted me to continue writing, she was going to have to force me, I was done. When it looked like she wasn't going to do anything, I stood up, letting the chair screech loudly against the floor. Screw her. I was done.

As I left her office, I heard her tutting disapprovingly. I clenched my scarred hand into a fist. Screw her and her detentions. I've been doing this for three weeks now. If anyone needed a chill pill, it was her.

I made my way to the Gryffindor common room, hoping that no one caught me, especially those stuck up Prefects. I had to wrap my bleeding hand in the sleeve of my robe to stop it from getting worse. I hoped that Hermione had her Murtlap's Essence with her. We weren't really close, but after giving Ron that pep talk, I figured we were kind of close, so maybe she'd let me use it.

I winced as blood trickled down my hand. Maybe Hermione could just let me use her essence out of pity- either way didn't really matter. I quickened my pace to the Tower, feeling slightly light-headed. This wasn't good. I was too far away from the Hospital Wing, somewhere a bunch of floors down, the other side of the castle. I didn't know what happened if you lost too much blood, but I had a feeling I was going to find out. Everything was hazy; the floor blurred with the walls, and my steps were heavy. My scarred hand went limp, and I fell forward.

The last thing I saw was a blur of colours before the world turned to black.

* * *

Waking up felt more horrible than usual. I let out a small groan and opened my eyes. I faced a blank, white smell of potions, like something out of Max's wardrobe, came over me. Flinching in disgust, I slowly sat up and shifted myself so I felt more comfortable. Beside my bed were Max and Justin in their pajamas and who didn't really look too worried about me. Max was playing with a chocolate frog and kept stealing glances at Justin who read out of some musty, old textbook.

I winced. Max and I hadn't seen Justin since the Quidditch Match. We avoided him whenever we could and kept to ourselves. Justin looked fine though; he didn't look like he was stressing over anything more than the usual school stuff he usually stressed about.

I tried to greet them but I ended up croaking instead. They both turned towards me.

"Alex!" Max exclaimed and shoved the chocolate frog in my face. "Look, I found this under your bed!"

"Eww," I said and weakly swatted it away from me. It gave me a silent croak before hopping away. Mournfully, I mentally bid it goodbye, knowing that Madame Pompfrey would kill it the moment she saw it.

Justin rolled his eyes then addressed me. "One of the ghosts found you outside in the hallways a few hours ago. He showed McGonagall and brought you here. We just got here a few minutes ago."

I took a few deep breaths. "Uh, yeah. Do you know why I fainted?"

"Blood loss, apparently." Justin put his book down on his lap and faced me. "Madame Pomphrey found really deep scars on your hand. Any explanations?"

I scowled. "Unbridge." Her name left my mouth like it was poison. "Her idea of writing lines is bloody." I held up my hand, which was now wrapped in white bandages.

Max recoiled. "She's not allowed to do that, is she?"

"No." Justin hissed. "No, she isn't. Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Wha-? I thought it was normal!" I exclaimed indignantly.

"Still, we should probably tell someone about this," Max pointed out.

I scoffed. "And what's going to stop her from making a Decree that forbids student from mentioning what happens in detention?"

Justin rolled his eyes. "Dumbledore wouldn't allow that. I don't think the Ministry of Magic would allow that either."

I sighed in defeat. "Look, we can try, but McGonagall already knows about this, and she hasn't done anything. If she knows about it, Dumbledore knows about it. And he's doing shit about it." I remembered the rumours of a stand-off between McGonagall and Umbridge a while back.

Max shivered. "I'm really glad I didn't get that detention. The only thing she had me do was cleaning her cat stuff."

I glared at Max. "Yeah, really lucky," I hissed. As much as it was a good thing that Max wasn't going through this, I also didn't want to let him forget who led me into this situation in the first place.

"So that means we can't do anything?" Justin asked.

I raised my bandaged hand again. "This was for a prank. Imagine what she'd do if we tried anything against her. She's a bitch from hell. Our best chance is…" I was going to mention the Defense group- Dumbledore's Army, or the DA- Max and I have been going to for a few days. But Justin was in the room, and anything I said meant I was basically revealing our secret to him. I remembered what Hermione said about looking worse than when Fred and George gave me boils. Besides, who knew what Justin was going to blab to Juliet. "...staying...quiet...and...you know," I trailed off.

Justin raised his eyebrow. "So, our best chance is taking it as it is? Doesn't sound like you Alex."

I scoffed. "It is so me. Like, this trip to Hogwarts, I took it as it is, remember?" I tried to ignore the squeak in my voice as I spoke.

Justin deadpanned, "You had to be told that this would help you with the Family Wizard Competition to get here."

I widened my eyes and nodded. "See? Me taking it as it is."

Justin rolled my eyes. He looked like he was going to say more, but Madame Pomphrey's figure loomed over the two of them. She held a potion in each of her hands.

"I've let you stay for five minutes. My patient needs rest and I'm sure you two have classes tomorrow." She said sweetly. It sort of reminded me of myself; the sweet voice I'd use when I threatened to get even. I smirked at the comparison.

Max and Justin left hurriedly. In a few seconds, it was just Madame Pomphrey and I. She handed me a vial of mud-brown potion. I flinched in disgust but drank it anyway and ignored the revolting taste. The last time I was in the Hospital Wing, she looked close to smacking me when I complained; the hassle wasn't worth it. She then told me to sleep. So, I laid down and closed my eyes and immediately fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up the next morning, Max and Justin beside my bed again. I groaned and pulled myself up into a sitting position. Justin clenched onto a sheet of parchment, and Max stared at the ground like it had just told him his dog died.

"What's up?" I asked, my voice raspy. I briefly wondered when the last time I drank water was.

Justin handed me the sheet of parchment. "Crumbs sent a letter yesterday. You were right about Mom and Dad."

The world stopped. Chills ran through my spine, my breath hitched. I stopped being aware of what I was doing. I took the sheet of parchment and skimmed through Crumbs' fancy lettering. My heart dropped. I couldn't believe it. My mind wandered back to the letter in my trunk collecting more dust. I stared at Justin and Max; maybe this was a cruel trick, maybe this was Justin's way of tricking me and Max. But, even if Justin was working with the wrong side, he wouldn't be making this kind of stuff up.

I sniffed and scratched my eyes. "So, Dad is really…?"

They nodded. "Apparently, someone broke into the Sub Station and took Dad away. The wizard police officers got there before they took Mom," Justin said.

I closed my eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. Everything inside me hoped that this was just some sick nightmare- maybe Umbridge got even more sadistic with her punishments.

Unfortunately, I already knew the truth.


End file.
